IUBio

Great Quotes in Neuroscience (Hebb, Hobson)

William H. Calvin WCalvin at U.Washington.edu
Thu May 30 19:43:39 EST 1996


The "second act" of THE CEREBRAL CODE starts with these two epigrams:

"I suggest that memory is organized with a framework of motor programs
within the brain.  Far from being a black box of no relevance to
behaviorist psychology, the brain is a jack-in-the-box, filled to the
brim with spring-loaded plans of action.  As such it is the very
wellspring of all behavior.  These brain-mind behavior programs, like
sensory representations, are virtual  — and they have even been called
"fictive" to capture their promissory aspect — but they are no less
real.  In our being and becoming, they are us and we are they."
               J. Allan Hobson, 1994


        "Rejection [of the idea that mental events have no locus] by
common sense, for whatever reason, proves nothing.  Other fields of
science are built on propositions that may seem absurd but in fact are
true.  (Air is heavy, has weight?  Water is made up of two gases? The
continents are adrift in the oceans?)"
               Donald O. Hebb, 1980

The citations are in the end notes:
   http://weber.u.washington.edu/~wcalvin/bk9notes.html#Intermission
-- 


  William H. Calvin                   WCalvin at U.Washington.edu
                       http://weber.u.washington.edu/~wcalvin/





More information about the Neur-sci mailing list

Send comments to us at biosci-help [At] net.bio.net