Brain Fiction

Name: Brain Fiction
Price: 85 AUD
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ISBN: 9780262582711

Self-Deception and the Riddle of Confabulation

William Hirstein (Professor, Elmhurst College), Andrew Dobson (Keele University)

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Paperback

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
11 August 2006

Philosophy of mind; Psychology

Series: Philosophical Psychopathology

Some neurological patients exhibit a striking tendency to confabulate-to construct false answers to a question while genuinely believing that they are telling the truth. A stroke victim, for example, will describe in detail a conference he attended over the weekend when in fact he has not left the hospital. Normal people, too, sometimes have a tendency to confabulate; rather than admitting ""I don't know,"" some people will make up an answer or an explanation and express it with complete conviction. In Brain Fiction, William Hirstein examines confabulation and argues that its causes are not merely technical issues in neurology or cognitive science but deeply revealing about the structure of the human intellect.

Hirstein describes confabulation as the failure of a normal checking or censoring process in the brain-the failure to recognize that a false answer is fantasy, not reality. Thus, he argues, the creative ability to construct a plausible-sounding response and some ability to check that response are separate in the human brain. Hirstein sees the dialectic between the creative and checking processes-""the inner dialogue""-as an important part of our mental life. In constructing a theory of confabulation, Hirstein integrates perspectives from different fields, including philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology to achieve a natural mix of conceptual issues usually treated by philosophers with purely empirical issues; information about the distribution of certain blood vessels in the prefrontal lobes of the brain, for example, or the behavior of split-brain patients can shed light on the classic questions of philosophy of mind, including questions about the function of consciousness. This first book-length study of confabulation breaks ground in both philosophy and cognitive science.

By: William Hirstein (Professor Elmhurst College)
Edited by: Andrew Dobson (Keele University)
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9780262582711
ISBN 10: 0262582716
Series: Philosophical Psychopathology
Pages: 301
Publication Date: 11 August 2006
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

William Hirstein is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Elmhurst College.

Reviews for Brain Fiction: Self-Deception and the Riddle of Confabulation

Hirstein has packed a wealth of scientific information into this book. -John Bickle, Journal of Consciousness Studies Brain Fiction offers one of the most extensive accounts of false memories and perceptions. -Armin Schnider, Science