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Joaquín M. Fuster is an eminent cognitive neuroscientist whose research over the last five decades has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural structures underlying cognition and behaviour. This book provides his view on the eternal question of whether we have free will. Based on his seminal work on the functions of the prefrontal cortex in decision-making, planning, creativity, working memory, and language, Professor Fuster argues that the liberty or freedom to choose between alternatives is a function of the cerebral cortex, under prefrontal control, in its reciprocal interaction with the environment. Freedom is therefore inseparable from that circular relationship. The Neuroscience of Freedom and Creativity is a fascinating inquiry into the cerebral foundation of our ability to choose between alternative actions and to freely lead creative plans to their goal.
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Evolutionary roots of freedom; 3. Anatomy of cognition; 4. The perception/action cycle; 5. Memory of the future; 6. Freedom in speech; 7. Liberty, responsibility, and social order.
About the author
Joaquín M. Fuster is Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Brain Research Institute and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Fuster is an eminent neuroscientist with a career spanning six decades. He is the first to have discovered and described 'memory cells' in the primate brain. He is author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and three books: Memory in the Cerebral Cortex (1995), Cortex and Mind (2003) and The Prefrontal Cortex (1980, and 4th edition, 2008).
Summary
In a fascinating exploration of the question of free will, eminent cognitive neuroscientist, Joaquín Fuster, argues that the liberty or freedom to choose between alternatives is a function of the nervous system, especially the cerebral cortex, in its reciprocal interaction with the environment. Freedom is inseparable from that circular relationship.
Report
'Joaquín Fuster is a distinguished pioneer in the exploration of the brain's prefrontal cortex, the regions we depend on for choices and self-control. With subtlety, clarity, and a deep feel for the complexities of living a life, Fuster takes a fresh and insightful look [at] human choice. His ideas are philosophically deep and biologically sensible; they are presented lucidly and with modesty and charm. A masterful accomplishment.' Patricia Smith Churchland, Professor Emerita, University of California, San Diego
