A challenge to the naive but prevailing notion of a central executive, somewhere in the frontal lobe or its vicinity, dishing out the orders to the rest of the brain and controlling every cognitive function, from attention on up. Evidently, cognitive functions, notably attention, can operate efficiently and effortlessly on the margins of consciousness. Attention and performance are inextricable from the perception-action cycle, where there is no true causal origin and consciousness is merely a phenomenon -- and in fact can be an impediment. The evidence presented in Effortless Attention makes ample room for priming, intuition, gut-feeling, automatism, and other hidden but very real unconscious brain powers behind decision-making and the pursuit of goals. -- Joaquin M. Fuster, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, author of The Prefrontal Cortex The chapters in Bruya's book represent an extraordinary breadth and diversity of approaches to the study of control of thought, word, and deed. The ideas presented in this volume are grounded in historical approaches to attention and yet they benefit from the most modern work in cognitive and neuroscience. This book should be on the shelf of every serious student of how the mind works. -- Randall W. Engle, Editor, Current Directions in Psychological Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
Brian Bruya is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Eastern
Michigan University and Center Associate at the University of
Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies. He is the editor of
Effortless Attention- A New Perspective on the Cognitive Science of
Attention and Action.
Brian Bruya is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Eastern
Michigan University and Center Associate at the University of
Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies. He is the editor of
Effortless Attention- A New Perspective on the Cognitive Science of
Attention and Action.
Brian Bruya is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Eastern
Michigan University and Center Associate at the University of
Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies. He is the editor of
Effortless Attention- A New Perspective on the Cognitive Science of
Attention and Action.
James H. Austin, a clinical neurologist, researcher, and Zen
practitioner for more than three decades, is Professor Emeritus of
Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and
Courtesy Professor of Neurology at the University of Florida
College of Medicine. He is the author of Zen and the Brain, Chase,
Chance, and Creativity, Zen-Brain Reflections, Selfless Insight,
Meditating Selflessly, and Zen-Brain Horizons, all published by the
MIT Press. For more information, please visit
www.zenandthebrain.com.
Different from the traditional textbooks on attention and even from
the majority of anthologies...informative....attention is a vibrant
field. I'm not sure that reading the book is accompanied by flow,
but it is worth the effort.
*American Journal of Psychology*
What is unusual and valuable about this book is the
breadth....especially valuable for researchers who want to broaden
their horizons and think about further philosophical, experimental,
or practical implications of their research. The quality of the
chapters is generally high....The editor has succeeded in putting
the phenomenon of effortless-attention on the interdisciplinary
research agenda.
*Quarterly Review of Biology*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
