Mind and Brain Sciences in the 21st Century

Mind and Brain Sciences in the 21st Century

Robert L. Solso, editor

Cambridge (MA): The MIT Press; 1999. 354 pp. with index

ISBN 0-262-69223-6 (paper)

In this book 18 prominent writers in the field of neuropsychology and neuroscience review recent progress and make prognostications about where the field is going in the 21st century. The topics range from the serious to the whimsical, but all are challenging, yet lucid, and well written. Carl Sagan is a cosmologist and science author of international reputation, and his wife, Ann Druyan, is an author, lecturer and television producer. All the others are leaders in psychological and neurobiological research. The essays are grouped into 4 sections.

The first section deals with consciousness and the 21st century. In cognitive psychology, consciousness has been a central topic, yet until the last decade, the subject was avoided by most researchers, largely because many believed that it was impossible to study one’s own subjective experience in an objective way. Bernard Baars takes a look at this and describes a world of sentient, self-knowing beings; he hopes humans will achieve this in the next century. Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan challenge the traditional notion that humans are the only animals with true consciousness. They suggest that there is no qualitative discontinuity between the cognitive processes of a human and his pet dog. Richard Thompson explores the concept of “mind” as separate from “brain” (”the Ghost in the machine”). As a behaviourist, he feels that in the 21st century we will come to understand “mind” as the behavioural expression of brain function — nothing more. Endel Tulving, with tongue-in-cheek, describes an incident in which a being from 2096 is sent back (time machine?) to help him with his prognostications, and this being tells him about many new terms and concepts of the future. Tulving cleverly lampoons our use of acronyms and our propensity to think we understand something because we have given it a name.

In the second section, “Brain and mind in the 21st century,” 5 essays deal with the separation between cognitive psychology, largely influenced by behaviourism, and cognitive neuroscience, focussing on brain structure and function. Edward Smith postulates that neuroimaging of the normal brain will bring these 2 approaches together. Michael Posner and Daniel Levitin review the impact of neuroimaging on our understanding of how the brain works. Alan Gevins postulates a world in which everyone might be plugged into a brain scanner much as a mechanic plugs your car into a diagnostic computer. Karl Pribram discusses structures of memory and conscious learning, and Michael Gazzaniga asserts that whatever your brain does, its purpose is sex.

In recent years, psychology has moved away from behaviourism and is now trying to pry open Skinner’s Black Box. In the section “Psychology (memory, theory, and cognition) in the 21st century,” 6 well-known writers try their hand at predicting where psychology will go next. Henry Roediger HI, in a thoughtful essay, reviews the accuracy of past predictions (almost zero) and makes 11 “testable predictions” for the next 25 years. Gay Snodgrass looks back from 2050 and suggests a world of “memory trainers.” Jerome Kagan looks at current concepts in psychology and suggests that specific knowledge will change many and render the rest obsolete, with inevitable consequences for the classification systems. George Sperling discusses the role of theories in advancing knowledge. Neil Miller suggests that the future, as the past, is one of totally unexpected opportunities. Hans J. Eysenck writes a masterful historical overview of psychology and sees the future as an extrapolation of the past.

In the final section, “Mind sciences in the 21st century,” Robert Solso reviews the other essays and offers his views on current trends and new directions. He emphasizes the continuing importance of consciousness, the relationships between neuroimaging data and direct observations of behaviour, and the impact of scientific developments in other non-biological areas of science. He states that there has been a paradigm shift in the basic concept of the scientific method in the 20th century and that this will influence the whole direction of science in the next.

I found this book often challenged my conceptualizing powers; however, it was indeed a fascinating read. In fact, upon second reading I discovered many insights that I had missed the first time.