Making Space by Jennifer M Groh
Knowing where things are seems effortless. Yet our brains devote tremendous power to figuring out simple details about spatial relationships. Jennifer Groh traces this mental detective work to show how the brain creates our sense of location, and makes the case that the brains systems for thinking about space may be the systems of thought itself.
Groh deftly elucidates the mental computations that allow understanding of location and boundaries, interweaving well-judged snippets of historyThe mechanisms, such as the brain’s updates on eye movements, are fascinating—as is Groh’s revelation that neurons can ‘do double duty’ in tasks such as spatial navigation and memory. -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *
Jennifer Groh’s wonderful book offers a much broader insight into how the senses we think of as separate gather information on our environment, and how nerves and the brain process the information to map our bodies and the world… It’s a fascinating subject that Groh describes well… It’s also an important one. -- Jeff Hecht * New Scientist *
Groh’s book describes the general process by which the brain conceives of space in a highly unconventional and entertaining stream of Jennifer Groh’s consciousness… It lays out a fascinating field of inquiry (which is really multiple fields interwoven convincingly, filtered by Groh’s own thought processes) in a way that shows how a proper scientist thinks. -- Stephen L. Macnik * Scientific American *
[A] wealth of beautifully intertwined information and knowledge about how sensation and perception work in the brain… There is much to praise here… It is exhilarating to feel [Groh’s] energy and cautious optimism about our capacity to understand how we perceive, and how that could lead to an explanation of how we go around and about in the world. -- Tristan Bekinschtein * Times Higher Education *
In Making Space, Jennifer Groh has provided an engaging introduction to neuroscientific perspectives on the spatial senses, while also illustrating the contrast with psychological approaches to the functioning of sensory systems. -- Gary Hatfield * Times Literary Supplement *
A terrific book; very imaginative, yet based on solid science. -- Michael Gazzaniga, author of Who’s in Charge?
Making Space is written with a light touch, but with impeccable scholarship. It is extremely readable. -- Randy Gallistel, Rutgers University
Jennifer Groh’s wonderful book offers a much broader insight into how the senses we think of as separate gather information on our environment, and how nerves and the brain process the information to map our bodies and the world… It’s a fascinating subject that Groh describes well… It’s also an important one. -- Jeff Hecht * New Scientist *
Groh’s book describes the general process by which the brain conceives of space in a highly unconventional and entertaining stream of Jennifer Groh’s consciousness… It lays out a fascinating field of inquiry (which is really multiple fields interwoven convincingly, filtered by Groh’s own thought processes) in a way that shows how a proper scientist thinks. -- Stephen L. Macnik * Scientific American *
[A] wealth of beautifully intertwined information and knowledge about how sensation and perception work in the brain… There is much to praise here… It is exhilarating to feel [Groh’s] energy and cautious optimism about our capacity to understand how we perceive, and how that could lead to an explanation of how we go around and about in the world. -- Tristan Bekinschtein * Times Higher Education *
In Making Space, Jennifer Groh has provided an engaging introduction to neuroscientific perspectives on the spatial senses, while also illustrating the contrast with psychological approaches to the functioning of sensory systems. -- Gary Hatfield * Times Literary Supplement *
A terrific book; very imaginative, yet based on solid science. -- Michael Gazzaniga, author of Who’s in Charge?
Making Space is written with a light touch, but with impeccable scholarship. It is extremely readable. -- Randy Gallistel, Rutgers University
Jennifer M. Groh is Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Department of Neurobiology at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674863217 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674863216 |
| Title | Making Space |
| Author | Jennifer M Groh |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 2014-10-06 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Prizes | Commended for PROSE Awards 2015 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |