Marc Jeannerod

Marc Jeannerod is Professor Emeritus of physiology at Claude-Bernard University, in Lyon, and the founder of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.He is notably the author of "Le Cerveau intime, Le Cerveau volontaire, De la physiologie mentale. Histoire des relations entre biologie et psychologie" and "La Nature de l'esprit". One of the greatest French physiologists recounts here his scientific career, devoted to the study of the mied and the brain. Beginning with his early work, he goes on to review theories about action and will, traces what was known as France's cognitive revolution and explains his constant exchanges with philosophy as well as his reticent relations with psychoanalysis. "A backward look over some fifty years offers sufficient distance to evaluate the coherence of a scientific process. Not that coherence in itself guarantees quality or originality, but once a process has succeeded, even partially, and has achieved a result, even provisionally, it enables us to seek how ideas, projects and results have followed one another to reach a given point. "As often in science, the goal becomes clear only in hiedsight; it emerges following an evolution that could not have been foreseen at the start, with the result that we have not found what we thought we were looking for. It is this attempt

Our ability to acknowledge and recognise our own identity - our 'self' - is a characteristic doubtless unique to humans. Where does this feeling come from? How does the combination of neurophysiological processes coupled with our interaction with the outside world construct this coherent identity? We know that our social interactions contribute via the eyes, ears etc. However, our self is not only influenced by our senses. It is also influenced by the actions we perform and those we see others perform. Our brain anticipates the effects of our own actions and simulates the actions of others. In this way, we become able to understand ourselves and to understand the actions and emotions of others. This book is the first to describe the new field of 'Motor Cognition' - one to which the author's contribution has been seminal. Though motor actions have long been studied by neuroscientists and physiologists, it is only recently that scientists have considered the role of actions in building the self. How consciousness of action is part of self-consciousness, how one's own actions determine the sense of being an agent, how actions performed by others impact on ourselves for understanding others, differentiating ourselves from them and learning from them: these questions are raised and discussed throughout the book, drawing on experimental, clinical, and theoretical bases. The advent of new neuroscience techniques, like neuroimaging and direct electrical brain stimulation, together with a renewal of behavioral methods in cognitive psychology, provide new insights into this area. Mental imagery of action, self-recognition, consciousness of actions, imitation can be objectively studied using these new tools. The results of these investigations shed light on clinical disorders in neurology, psychiatry and in neuro-development. This is a major new work that will lay down the foundations for the field of motor cognition.

'Motor Cognition' describes the field of motor cognition - one to which the author's contribution has been seminal. The book examines how the motor actions we perform and watch others perform play a pivotal role in the construction of the 'self' - our ability to acknowledge and recognise our own identity.

Ways of seeing is a book about human vision. It results from the collaboration between a world famous cognitive neuroscientist and an eminent philosopher. In the past forty years, cognitive neuroscience has made many startling discoveries about the human brain, and about the human visual system in particular. This book brings many recent empirical findings, from electrophysiological recordings in animals, the neuropsychological examination of human patients, psychophysics, and developmental cognitive psychology, to bear on questions traditionally addressed by philosophers. What is the meaning of the English verb 'to see'? How does visual perception yield knowledge of the world? How does visual perception relate to thought? What is the role of conscious visual experience in visually guided actions? How does seeing actions relate to seeing objects? In the process the book provides a new assessment of the 'two visual systems' hypothesis, according to which the human visual system comprises two anatomical pathways with separable visual functions. The first truly interdisciplinary book about human vision, it will be of interest to students and researchers in many areas of cognitive science and the philosophy of mind.

This book accompanies an exhibition on the brain and its relation to the inner world of the self, which is scheduled to open in October 2002 at the Cit des Sciences de la Villette, in Paris. Today, the brain has ceased to be regarded as existing in isolation in the human body. It is now considered in relation to its sensory, emotional and cultural environment. Recent research has opened new avenues to help us understand the pathologies of the brain and its ability to adapt. It has also iedicated ways of elucidating the mysteries of thought, memory and desires.Ths book is built around five main themes: What acts in me: the functions that regulate the organisation of the body, the dialogue between brain and body.What I feel: What are the mechanI'ms and chemistry of the emotions? How do emotional states and the consciousness of those states permeate memory and thought? How can the quest for pleasure and rewards sometimes lead to drug abuse and addiction? How does depression affect the emotions, and how can it be treated?What I think: How does one learn? What purpose do dreams serve?What I am: How is the consciousness of self and of others constructed? By what means do we represent others, and how do we decipher the messages they send us? How do we predict the behaviour of others? What occurs in cases of autism?Marc Jeannerod teaches physiology at the University Claude-Bernard-Lyon-I, and is the director of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences. He is the author of La Nature de l?esprit.

This book is one of the first in an exciting new series of tutorials in cognitive neuroscience, and provides a concise, readable and up-to-date review of cognitive and neuroscience studies of the representations for actions. The fundamental question addressed concerns the nature and role of different representations in the planning and execution of movements.