Making up the Mind

Chris Frith is Professor in Neuropsychology at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London. His publications include Schizophrenia: A Very Short Introduction (2003, with Eve C. Johnstone) and The Neuroscience of Social Interaction (2004, edited with Daniel Wolpert).

“This book presents a clear description of the current neuroscientific view of the relationship between the brain and the mind.” (Brain Science Podcast, May 2009) "Neuroscience and psychology often struggle to answer the really interesting questions about the mind, but in this fascinating book, Chris Frith shows that science can finally start explaining how and why we experience the world as we do. Anyone interested in human nature - not just the nuts and bolts of neural circuits - will find his storytelling compelling. Frith delves into topics such as delusions, illusions, imagination and imitation, bringing clarity and insight to the simplest abservations and most complex experiments alike." (New Scientist) "Making up the Mind is an interesting book to everybody who wants to learn more about how the brain gives rise to our mental experiences...As Frith himself depicts in a sort of framing story, you will easily find yourself talking about these ideas at your next dinner party, as well as use it for serious considerations on the brain or as a toolbox for next term's essay. A stimulating new book by a distinguished scientist who knows what he is talking about." (Metapsychology Online Reviews)"Frith has produced an enthralling discussion on the subtle links between mind and brain, sometimes with humorous liaisons between himself, as narrator, and others who might be labelled as sceptics, unbelievers." (Psychologist)“Stands apart from many that have been written lately … For those who have time to read only one book … this should be it. Essential.” (Choice Reviews)

• List of Abbreviations ixPreface xAcknowledgments xiPrologue: Real Scientists Don’t Study the Mind 1The Psychologist’s Fear of the Party 1Hard Science and Soft Science 3Hard Science – Objective; Soft Science – Subjective 5Can Big Science Save Soft Science? 7Measuring Mental Activity 9How Can the Mental Emerge from the Physical? 15I Can Read Your Mind 16How the Brain Creates the World 16Part I Seeing through the Brain’s Illusions 191 Clues from a Damaged Brain 21Sensing the Physical World 21The Mind and the Brain 22When the Brain Doesn’t Know 24When the Brain Knows, But Doesn’t Tell 27When the Brain Tells Lies 29How Brain Activity Creates False Knowledge 31How to Make Your Brain Lie to You 34Checking the Reality of Our Experiences 36How Do We Know What’s Real? 372 What a Normal Brain Tells Us about the World 40Illusions of Awareness 40Our Secretive Brain 44Our Distorting Brain 48Our Creative Brain 503 What the Brain Tells Us about Our Bodies 61Privileged Access? 61Where’s the Border? 61We Don’t Know What We Are Doing 64Who’s in Control? 66My Brain Can Act Perfectly Well without Me 68Phantoms in the Brain 70There’s Nothing Wrong with Me 74Who’s Doing It? 75Where Is the “You”? 77Part II How the Brain Does It 834 Getting Ahead by Prediction 85Patterns of Reward and Punishment 85How the Brain Embeds Us in the World and Then Hides Us 100The Feeling of Being in Control 105When the System Fails 107The Invisible Actor at the Center of the World 1095 Our Perception of the World Is a Fantasy That Coincides with Reality 111Our Brain Creates an Effortless Perception of the Physical World 111The Information Revolution 112What Can Clever Machines Really Do? 116A Problem with Information Theory 117The Reverend Thomas Bayes 119The Ideal Bayesian Observer 123How a Bayesian Brain Can Make Models of the World 125Is There a Rhinoceros in the Room? 125Where Does Prior Knowledge Come From? 127How Action Tells Us about the World 130My Perception Is Not of the World, But of My Brain’s Model of the World 132Color Is in the Brain, Not in the World 134Perception Is a Fantasy That Coincides with Reality 134We Are Not the Slaves of Our Senses 135So How Do We Know What’s Real? 136Imagination Is Extremely Boring 1376 How Brains Model Minds 139Biological Motion: The Way Living Things Move 140How Movements Can Reveal Intentions 141Imitation 144Imitation: Perceiving the Goals of Others 145Humans and Robots 148Empathy 149The Experience of Agency 151The Problem with Privileged Access 155Illusions of Agency 156Hallucinating Other Agents 157Part III Culture and the Brain 1617 Sharing Minds – How the Brain Creates Culture 163The Problem with Translation 163Meanings and Goals 165Solving the Inverse Problem 166Prior Knowledge and Prejudice 167What Will He Do Next? 168Other People Are Contagious 169Communication Is More Than Just Speaking 170Teaching Is Not Just a Demonstration To Be Imitated 171Closing the Loop 173Fork Handles: The Two Ronnies Close the Loop (Eventually) 174Fully Closing the Loop 175Knowledge Can Be Shared 175Knowledge Is Power 177The Truth 179Epilogue: Me and My Brain 184Chris Frith and I 184Searching for the Will in the Brain 185Where Is the Top in Top-Down Control? 186The Homunculus 188This Book Is Not About Consciousness 189Why Are People So Nice (as Long as They Are Treated Fairly)? 190Even an Illusion Has Responsibilities 191The Evidence 194Illustrations and Text Credits 218Index 226