1st Edition

Mind and Its Evolution A Dual Coding Theoretical Approach

By Allan Paivio Copyright 2007
    538 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    538 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    This book updates the Dual Coding Theory of mind (DCT), a theory of modern human cognition consisting of separate but interconnected nonverbal and verbal systems. Allan Paivio, a leading scholar in cognitive psychology, presents this masterwork as new findings in psychological research on memory, thought, language, and other core areas have flourished, as have pioneering developments in the cognitive neurosciences. Mind and Its Evolution provides a thorough exploration into how these adaptive nonverbal and verbal systems might have evolved, as well as a careful comparison of DCT with contrasting "single-code" cognitive theories.
     
    Divided into four parts, this text begins with a general, systematic theory of modern human cognition as the reference model for interpreting the cognitive abilities of evolutionary ancestors. The first half of the book discusses mind as it is; the second half addresses how it came to be that way. Each half is subdivided into two parts defined by thematic chapters. Mind and Its Evolution concludes with evidence-based suggestions about nourishing mental growth through applications of DCT in education, psychotherapy, and health.
     
    This volume will appeal to cognitive and evolutionary psychologists, as well as students in the areas of memory, language, cognition, and mind evolution specialists in psychology, philosophy, and other disciplines.

    Contents: Preface. Part I: Evolved Dual-Coding Mind and Related Species. Not by Language Alone. Justification for the Theoretical Approach. Basic Principles of Dual Coding Theory. Adaptive Functions of Dual-Coding Systems. Other Representational Species. Part II: Dual Coding Theory and the Brain. Introduction to Dual Coding Theory and the Brain: A Brief History and a Brain Primer. The Multimodal Dual-Coding Brain. Adaptive Functions of Dual-Coding Brain. Brain Teasers: Common Codes and Neural Binding. Part III: Evolution of Dual-Coding Mind. Background on Evolution Issues. Animal Minds. Evolution of Language: From Naming to Association. Evolution Language: Syntax. Part IV: Peak Mind and Performance. Introduction to Expertise: A Dual Coding Perspective. Expert Performance and Knowledge. Intelligence: Toward a Dual Coding Theory. Dual Coding Theory and Creativity. Geniuses and Their Domains. Nurturing the Mind: Applications of DCT.

    Biography

    Allan Paivio

    "Kantor's and Paivio's approach to cognitive interactions clearly suggest that the classic cognitivistic movement does not offer the only way including mediating processes in behavior theory...Mind is highly recommended as an example of how experimental psychology can subtle and complex psychology events free from cognitivistic and dualistic postulates that hark back to times when nonspatiotemporal soul was handed to psychology as a subject matter." - Dennis J. Delprato, The Psychological Record