Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Knowledge Systems of the Brain

  • Chapter
Book cover Neural Correlates of Thinking

Part of the book series: On Thinking ((ONTHINKING,volume 1))

  • 1158 Accesses

Abstract

Thinking is operating on knowledge representations. But how can knowledge be defined? Research on the nature of kinds of knowledge (or mental content, or mental representations etc.) has created a plethora of classifications and open questions that have occupied philosophers and psychologists alike over centuries. Despite all efforts no common framework has been established and controversies are bound to continue. Many of the problems are rooted in terminology varying over research disciplines and personalities. In this chapter, a taxonomy of “knowledges” is delineated that might help to clear the picture and thus facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adler J, Tso W-W (1974) “Decision”-making in bacteria: chemotactic response of Escherichia coli to conflicting stimuli. Science 184:1292–1294

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bachmann P, Cannon TD (2005) Cognitive and neuroscience aspects of thought disorder. In: Holyoak KJ, Morrison RG (eds) The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 493–526

    Google Scholar 

  • Barsalou LW (1999) Perceptual symbol systems. Behav Brain Sci 22:577–660

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barsalou LW (2005) Situated conceptualization. In: Cohen H, Lefebvre C (eds) Handbook of categorization in cognitive science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 619–650

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Breidbach O, Jost J (2006) On the gestalt concept. Theory Biosci 125:19–36

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Call J, Tomasello M (2005) Reasoning and thinking in nohuman primates. In: Holyoak KJ, Morrison RG (eds) The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 607–632

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvo-Merino B, Glaser DE, Grèzes J, Passingham RE, Haggard P (2005) Action observation and acquired motor skills: an fMRI study with expert dancers. Cereb Cortex 15:1243–1249

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cangelosi A (2005) Approaches to grounding symbols in perceptual and sensorimotor categories. In: Cohen H, Lefebvre C (eds) Handbook of categorization in cognitive science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 719–737

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio H, Tranel D, Grabowski T, Adolphs R, Damasio A (2004) Neural systems behind word and concept retrieval. Cognition 92:179–229

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deacon T (1998) The symbolic species. Penguin Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Eliasmith C (2005) Neurosemantics and categories. In: Cohen H, Lefebvre C (eds) Handbook of categorization in cognitive science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 1035–1054

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ernst MO, Bülthoff HH (2004) Merging the senses into a robust percept. Trends Cogn Sci 8:162–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Favorov OV, Ryder D (2004) SINBAD: a neocortical mechanism for discovering environmental variables and regularities hidden in sensory input. Biol Cybern 90:191–202

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fuster JM (2006) The cognit: a network model of cortical representation. Int J Psychophysiol 60:125–132

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galaburda AM, Kosslyn SM, Christen Y (eds) (2002) The languages of the brain. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner H (1983) Frames of mind. The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Harnad S (1990) The symbol grounding problem. Physica D 42:335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harnad S (2005) To cognize is to categorize: cognition is categorization. In: Cohen H, Lefebvre C (eds) Handbook of categorization in cognitive science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 20–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek FA (1976) The sensory order. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Holyoak KJ, Morrison RG (2005) Thinking and reasoning: a reader’s guide. In: Holyoak KJ, Morrison RG (eds) The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Karmiloff-Smith A (1996) Beyond modularity. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Kayser C, Logothetis NK (2007) Do early sensory cortices integrate cross-modal information? Brain Struct Funct 212:121–132

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knoblich G, Prinz W (2005) Linking perception and action: an ideomotor approach. In: Freund HJ, Jeannerod M, Hallett M, Leiguarda R (eds) Higher-order motor disorders. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 79–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Komatsu H (2006) The neural mechanisms of perceptual filling-in. Nat Neurosci 7:220–231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Konczak J (2005) On the notion of motor primitives in humans and robots. In: Berthouze L, Kaplan F, Kouzima H, Yano H, Konczak J, Metta G et al. (eds) Proceedings of the fifth international workshop on epigenetic robotics: modeling cognitive development in robotic systems. Lund University cognitive studies, vol 123. Lund University, Lund, pp 47–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandler JM (1988) How to build a baby: on the development of an accessible representational system. Cogn Dev 3:113–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mandler JM (2004a) The foundations of mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandler JM (2004b) Thought before language. Trends Cogn Sci 8:508–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Margolis E, Laurence S (eds) (1999) Concepts. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Millikan RG (1999) A common structure for concepts of individuals, stuffs, and real kinds: more mama, more milk, and more mouse. In: Margolis E, Laurence S (eds) Concepts. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 525–547

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell TM, Shinkareva SV, Carlson A, Chang K-M, Malave VL, Mason RA, Just MA (2008) Predicting human brain activity associated with the meanings of nouns. Science 320:1191–1195

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Papafragou A (2005) Relations between language and thought: individuation and the count/mass distinction. In: Cohen H, Lefebvre C (eds) Handbook of categorization in cognitive science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 255–275

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Powers R (2006) The echo maker. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Premack D (2007) Human and animal cognition: continuity and discontinuity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104:13861–13867

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz W (1997) Perception and action planning. Eur J Cogn Psychol 9:129–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz JJ (2005) The return of concept empiricism. In: Cohen H, Lefebvre C (eds) Handbook of categorization in cognitive science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 679–695

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ryder D, Favorov OV (2001) The new associationism: a neural explanation for the predictive powers of cerebral cortex. Brain Mind 2:161–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marier P (1980) Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 210:801–803

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spelke E (1988) The origins of physical knowledge. In: Weiskrantz L (ed) Thought without language. Clarendon, Oxford, pp 168–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M (2000) The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Uttal WR (2001) The new phrenology: the limits of localizing cognitive processes in the brain. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vergassola M, Villermaux E, Shraiman BI (2007) “Infotaxis” as a strategy for searching without gradients. Nature 445:406–409

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yeh W, Barsalou LW (2006) The situated nature of concepts. Am J Psychol 119:349–384

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Neuropsychology Unit, Marchioninistr. 15, 81337, Munich, Germany

    Josef Ilmberger

Authors
  1. Josef Ilmberger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josef Ilmberger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking, Parmenides Foundation, Kardinal Faulhaber Str. 14a, 80333, Munich, Germany

    Ernst Pöppel , Eduard Kraft  & Ernst Pöppel ,  & 

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Neuropsychology Unit, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Marchioninistr.15, 81337, Munich, Germany

    Eduard Kraft

  3. Psychiatry Section Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, S-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden

    Balázs Gulyás

  4. Human Science Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Goethestr.31, 80336, Munich

    Ernst Pöppel  & Ernst Pöppel  & 

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ilmberger, J. (2009). Knowledge Systems of the Brain. In: Kraft, E., Gulyás, B., Pöppel, E. (eds) Neural Correlates of Thinking. On Thinking, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68044-4_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation