Author Description

Product DescriptionNeuroscience has made considerable progress in figuring out how the brain works. We know much about the molecular-genetic and biochemical underpinnings of sensory and motor functions, and recent neuroimaging work has opened the door to investigating the neural underpinnings of higher-ordercognitive functions, such as memory, attention, and even free will. In these types of investigations, researchers apply specific stimuli to induce neural activity in the brain and look for the function in question. However, there may be more to the brain and its neuronal states than the changes inactivity we induce by applying particular external stimuli.In Volume 1 of Unlocking the Brain, Coding, Georg Northoff presents his argument for how the brain must code the relationship between its resting state activity and stimulus-induced activity in order to enable and predispose mental states and consciousness. In Volume 2, Consciousness, Georg Northoffaddresses consciousness by hypothesizing about the relationship between particular neuronal mechanisms and the various phenomenal features of consciousness.Review"Here, Northoff considers the much-discussed issue of the resting state in a novel light: in the context of the neural code. Many features and functions of the resting state as well as of the neural code are still unclear, but by connecting these issues, Northoff creates a highly fruitful discussion of consciousness. This is an excellent book-unique in its scope and breadth. It could become a landmark publication with a major and lasting impact on neuroscientists working in different fields."Simone Grimm, Neuropsychologist and Neuroscientist, Psychiatric University Hospital in Zurich, Charite Berlin"Georg Northoff, an eminent neuroscientist with a solid base in philosophy and psychiatry, takes upon himself a huge conceptual task-presenting a theory of brain function which will be able to explain the origin and nature of mental states. At the basis of Northoff's proposal is the belief that the brain (and mind) cannot be explained by merely referring to higher-level animals. Such an assumption may hinder the possibility of explaining the generation of mental states, since some of them can be found in lower-level animals. This approach provides many original insights which may give us a new and more plausible picture of the brain and the mind." Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, Professor of Philosophy, President, University of Haifa "Georg Northoff's Unlocking the Brain presents a deeply missing link between philosophy and neuroscience. His critical neurophilosophic ansatz is intensely wanted by neuroscientists, since most of them have a strong feeling that something like this landmark study has been missing. If only for the observation that even at rest our 'selfish' brain consumes twenty to thirty percent of all our body's energy, Northoff's 'resting state' and neural coding ideas are as evident as they are fascinating. The book itself is well-structured, easy to read, well-figured, well-presented and, last but not least, convincing." Prof. Alexander Sartorius, Head, Research Group Translational Imaging and ECT Supervision and Research, Senior Psychiatrist, University of Heidelberg"Northoff's is a unique and thrilling book. After discussing different concepts involved in the neural code like sparse and predictive coding, the author suggests an alternative concept: difference-based coding as distinguished from stimulus-based coding. The result, based on a wide and detailed amount of data, is a sometimes unorthodox but highly illuminating interdisciplinary perspective." Xuchu Weng, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, Founding Director, Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders Northoff's two volumes constitute profound accounts of brain functions, especially emergence of consciousness. Rather than just focusing on environmentally responsive senorimotor and cognitive functions, he considers brains' endogenous activit