Harald Maurer

The Mind and Brain are usually considered as one and the same nonlinear, complex dynamical system, in which information processing can be described with vector and tensor transformations and with attractors in multidimensional state spaces. Thus, an internal neurocognitive representation concept consists of a dynamical process which filters out statistical prototypes from the sensorial information in terms of coherent and adaptive n-dimensional vector fields. These prototypes serve as a basis for dynamic, probabilistic predictions or probabilistic hypotheses on prospective new data (see the recently introduced approach of "predictive coding" in neurophilosophy). Furthermore, the phenomenon of sensory and language cognition would thus be based on a multitude of self-regulatory complex dynamics of synchronous self-organization mechanisms, in other words, an emergent "flux equilibrium process" ("steady state") of the total collective and coherent neural activity resulting from the oscillatory actions of neuronal assemblies. In perception it is shown how sensory object informations, like the object color or the object form, can be dynamically related together or can be integrated to a neurally based representation of this perceptual object by means of a synchronization mechanism ("feature binding"). In language processing it is shown how semantic concepts and syntactic roles can be dynamically related together or can be integrated to neurally based systematic and compositional connectionist representations by means of a synchronization mechanism ("variable binding") solving the Fodor-Pylyshyn-Challenge. Since the systemtheoretical connectionism has succeeded in modeling the sensory objects in perception as well as systematic and compositional representations in language processing with this vector- and oscillation-based representation format, a new, convincing theory of neurocognition has been developed, which bridges the neuronal and the cognitive analysis level.The book describes how elementary neuronal information is combined in perception and language, so it becomes clear how the brain processes this information to enable basic cognitive performance of the humans.

The Mind and Brain are usually considered as one and the same nonlinear, complex dynamical system, in which information processing can be described with vector and tensor transformations and with attractors in multidimensional state spaces. Thus, an internal neurocognitive representation concept consists of a dynamical process which filters out statistical prototypes from the sensorial information in terms of coherent and adaptive n-dimensional vector fields. These prototypes serve as a basis for dynamic, probabilistic predictions or probabilistic hypotheses on prospective new data (see the recently introduced approach of "predictive coding" in neurophilosophy). Furthermore, the phenomenon of sensory and language cognition would thus be based on a multitude of self-regulatory complex dynamics of synchronous self-organization mechanisms, in other words, an emergent "flux equilibrium process" ("steady state") of the total collective and coherent neural activity resulting from the oscillatory actions of neuronal assemblies. In perception it is shown how sensory object informations, like the object color or the object form, can be dynamically related together or can be integrated to a neurally based representation of this perceptual object by means of a synchronization mechanism ("feature binding"). In language processing it is shown how semantic concepts and syntactic roles can be dynamically related together or can be integrated to neurally based systematic and compositional connectionist representations by means of a synchronization mechanism ("variable binding") solving the Fodor-Pylyshyn-Challenge. Since the systemtheoretical connectionism has succeeded in modeling the sensory objects in perception as well as systematic and compositional representations in language processing with this vector- and oscillation-based representation format, a new, convincing theory of neurocognition has been developed, which bridges the neuronal and the cognitive analysis level.The book describes how elementary neuronal information is combined in perception and language, so it becomes clear how the brain processes this information to enable basic cognitive performance of the humans.

Das Buch bietet eine kurze Einf hrung in das Thema der Selbstorganisation aus einer naturwissenschaftlich-wissenschaftstheoretischen Perspektive. Das Buch richtet sich vor allem an Student(-inn-)en aus den Disziplinen der Kognitionswissenschaft, der komputationalen und kognitiven Neurowissenschaften, der Neuroinformatik, der Neurophilosophie, und der Neurolinguistik sowie an diejenigen, die sich f r den Themenbereich der K nstlichen Intelligenz interessieren.

Why do we believe that a body ends where we do not feel it anymore? Why not where we cannot hear or see it anymore? In short: could it perhaps be that every body expands into eternity on its own even if we do not perceive this expansion with our limited senses? The logically consistent continuation of this thought uttered analogously by the physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach leads to a kind of General Field Theory whose effects touch every field of science, unveil the mystery of gravitation, and make it comprehensible why Einsteins General Theory of Relativity really corresponds to an apparently bizarre reality. This reality in question as a product of the interaction of our perception with a world of quanta, impulses, and structures is obviously based on a very simple cause. Inspired by Machs principle, origin and function of the cosmos are described as the effect of a simple fact: the principle of displacement and universal repulsion of a matter which stands in its own way& The first edition of this book, already published in 1987, was distributed thousandfold via the internet and initiated heated discussions in physics and philosophy forums. The result of the international feedback is this revised, extended, and up-dated new edition of the Principle of Existence.

Der Versuch einer holistischen Betrachtung des Universums auf 512 Seiten mit mehr als 200 Abbildungen. Bearbeitete, erweiterte und aktualisierte Neuausgabe 2003. Warum glauben wir, ein Körper höre dort auf, wo wir ihn nicht mehr spüren? Warum nicht dort, wo wir ihn nicht mehr hören oder sehen? Könnte es vielleicht sein, dass sich jeder Körper von sich aus ins Unendliche erstreckt, auch wenn wir diese Ausdehnung mit unseren beschränkten Sinnen nicht wahrnehmen?" Die konsequente Fortsetzung dieses vom Physiker und Philosophen Ernst Mach ausgesprochenen Gedankens führt zu einer Art Allgemeinen Feldtheorie, deren Auswirkungen sämtliche Bereiche der Naturwissenschaft berührt, das Rätsel der Gravitation entschleiert und begreifbar macht, wieso Einsteins Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie tatsächlich einer scheinbar bizarren Wirklichkeit entspricht. Diese subjektive Wirklichkeit als Produkt der Interaktion unserer Wahrnehmung mit einer Welt aus Quanten, Impulsen und Strukturen beruht offenbar auf einer ganz einfachen Ursache. Inspiriert vom Mach'schen Prinzip werden Herkunft und Funktion des Kosmos als die Auswirkung einer simplen Tatsache dargestellt: dem Grundsatz der Verdrängung und der universellen Abstoßung einer Materie, die sich selbst im Weg steht ...