The Neural Mind

How Brains Think

Professor George Lakoff, Srini Narayanan

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Hardback

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English

University of Chicago Press
24 June 2025

linguistics; Cognition & cognitive psychology

Offers an expansive, unified theory of thought that brings together the vast resources of neuroscience, computation, and cognitive linguistics.

What is an idea, and where does it come from? We experience thought as if it were abstract, but every thought is actually a physical thing, carried out by the neural systems of our brains. Thought does not occur neuron-by-neuron; it happens when neurons come together to form circuits and when simple circuits combine to form complex ones. Thoughts, then, derive their structures from the circuitry we also use for vision, touch, and hearing. This circuitry is what allows simple thoughts to come together into complex concepts, making meaning, creating metaphors, and framing our social and political ideas.

With The Neural Mind, George Lakoff, a pioneering cognitive linguist, and computer scientist Srini Narayanan deftly combine insights from cognitive science, computational modeling, and linguistics to show how thoughts arise from the neural circuitry that runs throughout our bodies. They answer key questions about the ways we make meaning: How does neural circuitry create the conceptual ""frames"" through which we understand our social lives? What kind of neural circuitry characterizes metaphorical thought, in which ideas are understood in terms of other ideas with similar structures? Lively and accessible, the book shows convincingly that the ""metaphors we live by""—to use Lakoff's famous phrase—aren't abstractions but deeply embodied neural constructs.

The Neural Mind is the first book of its kind, bringing together the ideas of multiple disciplines to offer a unified, accessible theory of thought. A field-defining work, Lakoff and Narayanan's book will be of interest not just to linguists and cognitive scientists but also to psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, journalists, sociologists, and political scientists—and anyone who wants to understand how we really think.

By: Professor George Lakoff, Srini Narayanan
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 708g
ISBN: 9780226835884
ISBN 10: 022683588X
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 24 June 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface Chapter 1: What It Takes to Create Human Thought The Creation of Perception: Color What Are Ideas? The Brain’s Tool Kit The Body Is Neural Dual Models Generalizations Functional Generalization Cascades Convergence-Divergence Zones Explaining Basic-Level Concepts Sound Symbolism Creating Perception: Seeing, Feeling, and Hearing The Takeaways Chapter 2: How Thought Works From Motor Control to Thought The Big Surprise: Aspect Is Motor Control Image Schemas: Starting with Kant On Schemas Schema Embodiment Thinking with Schemas Frames 00 The 2,500-Year-Old Theory Conceptual Metaphor Scales and Their Logic Primary Embodied Metaphor Metaphor and Neuroscience Conceptual Integration and Consciousness Categories The Takeaways Chapter 3: The Neural Mechanisms of Thought Scope and Challenges Neural Firing: The Basic Steps What Is Structured Neural Computational Modeling? Basic Circuit Types Coordination and Cascades: Evidence from Behavior Control Combinatorial Circuits Multiple Mapping Circuits Control and Coordination Circuits Integrative Circuits and Simulation Simulation in Language and Thought The Takeaways Applying the Neural Theory Chapter 4: Neural Language Thinking Neurally about Language Basic Circuit Types in Grammar The Scope and Power of Ideas in Grammar Due to Circuits for Ideas Embedding and Composition The Coordination of Multiple Circuits in Grammar Lexicon and Grammar There Is No Natural Language without Meaning Early Intimations of Integration in Grammar Case Study 1: One-Anaphora Case Study 2: Cascades of Metaphors Case Study 3: Looking Over without Overlooking Language Types and Embodiment The Two-Type Language Contrast How Ideas Spread Neural Phonology The Takeaways Afterword: The Neural Mind versus Deep Learning AI Acknowledgments Notes References Bibliography Index

George Lakoff is professor emeritus of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Metaphors We Live By, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Srini Narayanan is distinguished scientist and senior research director at Google DeepMind, Zurich, where he leads a research group on machine learning and natural language processing. Until 2014, he was director of the International Computer Science Institute, a core faculty member in the Cognitive Science Program, and a faculty member at the Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, all at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a cofounder of the Berkeley Neural Theory of Language group.

Reviews for The Neural Mind: How Brains Think

“Lakoff and Narayanan offer a comprehensive, easy-to-read review of fifty years of research in cognitive linguistics married with neurally inspired computational modeling. A must-read for anyone interested in how the human mind works.” * Rafael Núñez, University of California, San Diego * “This is potentially the most important book ever written on the relation of mind, thought, and language. With a sweeping interdisciplinary vision, supported by wonderful examples and accessible explanations, it integrates linguistic, psychological, cognitive scientific, and neuroscientific research that provides a new understanding of how our minds work. It is a deep exploration of how the brain is continuously reorganized by the way we live and engage our environments, thereby structuring our brains, which, in turn, shape our experience, meaning, thought, and language.” * Mark Johnson, University of Oregon * “The Neural Mind offers one of the only encompassing reviews of embodied cognitive science. Lakoff and Narayanan cover a large expanse of theories, data, and science and try to explain, in a way that is easy to understand, theories surrounding the underlying structure of how the brain works. The Neural Mind is novel, important, and expansive. It will be of great interest to anyone interested in how the brain may function.” * Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, University of Southern California *