The mystery of the mind : a critical study of consciousness and the human brain / by Wilder Penfield ; foreword by Charles W. Hendel ; introduction by William Feindel ; reflections by Sir Charles Symonds.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Penfield, Wilder, 1891-1976, author.

Hendel, Charles W., author of introduction, etc.

Feindel, William, author of introduction, etc.

Contributor:

Symonds, Charles, editor.

Series:

Princeton legacy library.

Princeton Legacy Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brain.

Consciousness.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (157 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 1978.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the past fifty years scientists have begun to discover how the human brain functions. In this book Wilder Penfield, whose work has been at the forefront of such research, describes the current state of knowledge about the brain and asks to what extent recent findings explain the action of the mind. He offers the general reader a glimpse of exciting discoveries usually accessible to only a few scientists. He writes: "Throughout my own scientific career I, like other scientists, have struggled to prove that the brain accounts for the mind. But perhaps the time has come when we may profitably consider the evidence as it stands, and ask the question...Can the mind be explained by what is now known about the brain?" The central question, he points out, is whether man's being is determined by his body alone or by mind and body as separate elements. Before suggesting an answer, he gives a fascinating account of his experience as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the brain in conscious patients.Originally published in 1975.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Foreword / Hendel, Charles W.

Introduction / Feindel, William

1. Sherringtonian Alternatives-Two Fundamental Elements or Only One?

2. To Consciousness the Brain Is Messenger

3. Neuronal Action within the Brain

4. Sensory and Voluntary-Motor Organization

5. The Indispensable Substratum of Consciousness

6. The Stream of Consciousness Electrically Reactivated

7. Physiological Interpretation of an Epileptic Seizure

8. An Early Conception of Memory Mechanisms - And a Late Conclusion

9. The Interpretive Cortex

10. An Automatic Sensory-Motor Mechanism

11. Centrencephalic Integration and Coordination

12. The Highest Brain-Mechanism

13. The Stream of Consciousness

14. Introspection by Patient and Surgeon

15. Doubling of Awareness

16. Brain as Computer, Mind as Programmer

17. What the Automatic Mechanism Can Do

18. Recapitulation

19. Relationship of Mind to Brain-A Case Example

20. Man's Being-A Choice Between Two Explanations

21. Comprehensibility

Reflections / Symonds, Charles

Afterthoughts by the Author

Bibliography

Index

Backmatter

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691614786

0691614784

9780691642369

0691642362

9780691023601

0691023603

9781400868735

1400868734

OCLC:

761198857