The Brain-Shaped Mind

Abstract

Will brain scientists ever be able to read our minds? Why are some things harder to remember than others? Based on recent brain research and neural network modelling, The Brain-Shaped Mind addresses these, and other, questions, and provides a clear account of how the structure of the brain influences the workings of the mind. Neuroscientists are now learning about our minds by examining how the neurones in the brain are connected with one another and the surrounding environment. This book explores how neural networks enable us to recognise objects and learn new things, and what happens when things go wrong. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey into what is arguably one of the most complicated and remarkable aspects of our lives.

Edwards-Venn Diagrams for knowledge representation and reasoning in industrial systems

“…These constrains were much inherited by ontologies with the model of knowledge structure driven by symbolic approach to natural cognition. To overcome the limitations of the symbolic approach in explanation of natural knowledge structure, the principles of connectionism were introduced [17].…”

“…The concept is not just a solid node in a knowledge structure rather it is a sub-network of the general knowledge network; it is seen as a local network of interconnected links [17]. A concept being a subnetwork can be modified with time by adopting or losing some links.…”

Assessment of the ontological approach in factory automation from the perspectives of connectionism

“…In the human brain the areas which process information coming in from the senses, as well as the areas where actions are planned, do not look very different from the areas where various sort of information are associated or the areas where thinking and reasoning take place. Basing on assumption that the work of mind is in a close relation with the brain structure, the connectionists ought to look for a theory about mind operations which can explain the processes of perception and action as well as associations and reasoning [4].…”

“…In the system there are networks of different kinds: for example there could be a network with knowledge of animal names, another one of animal looks, third one with proverbs about animals and so on. Thus the concept "cat" will be distributed over different interconnected networks [4].…”

“…The theory of semantic networks was very popular in 60s and on its base there was proposed a number of recognized techniques of knowledge representation and reasoning in the domain of artificial intelligence [3]. However, in the domain of psychology the theory was criticized in a few positions and in particular because it works mostly for knowledge structuring by principle of associations, and ignores others principles [4]. The discovery of the parallel distributive processing in the domain of neuroscience inspired the development of the connectionist theory in cognitive psychology, which claimed to explain the working of perception and action as well as reasoning and thinking in work of human mind.…”