Review
Nature Neuroscience : Perceptual Neuroscience is a superb, if rather selective, survey of the phylogeny, ontogeny, anatomy, physiology, and organization of the cerebral cortex. Emphasizing the role of the cortex in perceptual processing, this well-written, well-produced volume draws on over 1100 citations. What is particularly valuable about this book is the insights it provides into the thinking of one of our most active senior neuroscientists.
--Charles Gross
Review
Erudite, encyclopedic, a fascinating overview by a founder and major contributor to the field.
--Michael V.L. Bennett, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Vernon Mountcastle's contributions to brain science are singular. Over the years he has tackled only the toughest problems and brought us understanding of the basic cortical unit involved in computational processes underlying perception, and for that matter probably all cognitive functions. He now brings us a lucid summary of what is known about the neural basis of perception in a beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated work. It will be the benchmark book well into the next century.
--Michael Gazzaniga, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College
This is a remarkable book by one of the most distinguished of modern neurophysiologists. It presents in a very clear light material that forms the foundations of neurophysiology but which rarely appears in textbooks today. This book will be of enormous value to all neuroscientists.
--Edward G. Jones, President-Elect, Society for Neuroscience, and Director, Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis
While I welcomed the advent of 'cognitive neuroscience', a lot of cognitive neuroscience is perceptual neuroscience. This is a topic we know a lot about from years of research. I can think of no better person to write about this topic than Vernon Mountcastle. Everything I expected is in this volume, and more. The topics are those that I want my students to know. While the basics are clearly presented, we also are treated to the important conceptual advances of Mountcastle himself. The style is bold and the text is informative. No other text covers the topic of the cerebral cortex so well.
--Jon H. Kaas, Centennial Professor, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University
It takes a certain audacity to make the leap from mundane physiology and anatomy to perception, but no one is better qualified than Professor Mountcastle to make that leap. This book will be a rich resource for those of us who view the cerebral cortex at an integrative systems level. A particular strength of the book is its quantitative approach. There is little or no computational heavy lifting, but there is a consistent effort to back up description and assertion with numbers. This is a work that that sparks the creative imagination.
--John C. Middlebrooks, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan
No practicing neuroscientist has devoted more time and energy to understanding the cerebral cortex than Vernon Mountcastle. Based on this wealth of experience, Mountcastle has now completed an authoritative synthesis that will be of great value to students and professionals alike.
--Dale Purves, Department of Neurobiology, Duke University
This book must surely be the definitive source on the structure and function of the mammalian neocortex, and it comes from an intrepid explorer. Vernon Mountcastle provided the first evidence for the columnar organization of the neocortex by making systematic recordings from single neurons in the somatosensory cortex, which was a tour de force for its time (mid-1950s). This was the first glimpse of the cell-wise modular organization of mammalian neocortex; cortical columns were later found to be the organizing principle not only for other sensory modalities, but also for the motor cortex. Neuroscientists of all stripes, as well as clinicians and advanced students, will welcome this vast and authoritative perspective from one of the authentic 'greats' of cellular neurophysiology.
--Ron Hoy, Cornell University
Vernon Mountcastle has written a magnificent overview of our present understanding of perception and the cerebral cortex. The book is exactly what we have come to expect from Mountcastle--thorough, precise and rigorous. The book will have a long shelf-life and be the 'bible' for generations of both students and researchers interested in cortical mechanisms.
--John E. Dowling, Harvard University
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坦白说,我最初接触这本书时,是带着一丝怀疑的,因为我对“知觉神经科学”这个领域已经有了相当的了解,总觉得市面上大多数的教材都不过是信息的堆砌。然而,这本书的叙事结构彻底颠覆了我的预期。它不是教科书式的线性推进,而更像是一场精心编排的探险。作者似乎深谙如何引导读者的好奇心,总是在最恰当的时机引入一个看似矛盾的现象,然后循序渐进地揭示其背后的神经生物学机制。比如,书中对“注意力的空间限制”与“无意识知觉”的讨论,处理得极为细腻。它没有简单地用“盲视”(Blindsight)来搪塞过去,而是深入分析了不同通路在信息编码和处理上的时间延迟与权重差异。这种层层递进的分析方式,使得即便是初次接触这些概念的读者,也能建立起一个扎实、连贯的知识框架。更值得称赞的是,书中对当前研究热点的前瞻性评论,那些对未来实验设计方向的设想,展现了作者深厚的学术功底和敏锐的洞察力,让阅读过程充满了智力上的愉悦感,远非传统教材所能比拟。
评分这本书的阅读体验,对于那些习惯了传统严肃学术写作的读者来说,可能会带来一种小小的“冲击”。它的语言风格是极其个人化的,充满了研究者在面对未知时的那种激动与困惑的混合体。这种风格上的鲜明性,使得原本可能枯燥的理论推导也变得引人入胜。例如,在描述对视觉“绑定问题”(Binding Problem)的探索时,作者没有直接给出结论,而是坦诚地列举了数种主要的绑定假说——振荡同步、神经元联合编码等——并清晰地指出了每种假说的优点和目前尚未解决的难题。这种开放式的讨论,鼓励读者积极参与到科学的建构过程中,而不是被动接受既定的事实。这种对科学过程的尊重和展现,远比生硬的知识灌输更有价值。对于希望了解一个前沿领域是如何在不断试错中前进的求知者来说,这种“不确定性”的展示,正是其最大的魅力所在。
评分读完这本书,我的感觉更像是完成了一次对人类心智边界的深度“丈量”。它没有过多纠缠于分子生物学的细节,而是聚焦于宏观的系统级整合——这是我最欣赏的一点。作者似乎将整个视觉皮层网络视为一个高度优化的信息处理器,并用一种系统论的视角去审视它。特别是在探讨物体识别和场景理解的部分,它非常有效地结合了计算模型,例如,如何用特定的网络架构来模拟我们对光照变化的不敏感性(恒常性)。这种跨学科的融合,使得原本抽象的神经科学概念变得具象化和可操作。我特别喜欢书中对于“具身认知”在知觉形成中作用的讨论,这一点在很多纯粹的神经科学著作中往往是被忽略的支线。作者强调了运动反馈回路在稳定感知中所扮演的关键角色,这让整个感知模型变得更加完整和富有生命力。这本书不仅仅是在描述“看”的过程,更是在探讨“如何存在”的过程,其哲学深度令人回味无穷。
评分这部关于视觉认知的著作,在我阅读过的众多神经科学文献中,无疑是独树一帜的存在。它并非仅仅罗列那些晦涩难懂的实验数据和复杂的皮层图谱,而是以一种近乎诗意的笔触,将冰冷的电生理信号转化为我们日常生活中那些司空见惯的视觉体验。作者在开篇部分就设置了一个极具启发性的讨论:我们的大脑是如何从视网膜上那二维的、不断变化的图像流中,构建出一个稳定、可感知的、三维的世界的?这其中涉及到的预测编码、贝叶斯推理等概念,被阐述得极其清晰,仿佛作者亲自坐在你身边,用最直白的语言为你拆解那些深层的认知机制。我尤其欣赏其中关于“自上而下”与“自下而上”信息流如何巧妙整合的部分,它避免了将认知过程僵硬地分割,而是强调了一种动态的、持续的交互循环。书中的案例选取也十分精妙,从错觉图案的分析到运动知觉的解析,每一步都紧密围绕着核心问题——“感知是如何产生的”。这本书的深度,在于它不仅告诉我们“在哪里”发生,更深入地探讨了“如何”发生的哲学与数学基础。对于任何希望真正理解人类视觉系统的复杂性和优雅性的读者来说,这都是一本不容错过的奠基之作。
评分如果要用一个词来概括这本书的精髓,那可能是“连贯性”。它成功地将从早期的初级视觉皮层(V1)的简单特征提取,到高级的颞叶区域对复杂场景的语义理解,描绘成了一个和谐统一的连续体。我过去读过一些书籍,它们在描述不同层级的处理时,常常显得割裂,好像大脑的不同部分是孤立工作的芯片。但此书通过引入时间序列分析和大规模脑成像数据(fMRI/MEG)的整合,有力地证明了信息流的无缝衔接。其中对“预测误差最小化”在知觉矫正中的核心地位的阐述,堪称全书的亮点,它提供了一个统一的框架来解释各种知觉偏差和适应现象。这本书的学术价值极高,但更重要的是,它成功地将艰深的科学内容转化为一种可以被广泛理解和欣赏的认知艺术。它不仅仅是一本关于视觉的书,它更是一部关于我们如何构建“现实”的精彩论述。
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