"Professors and husband-and-wife team Uta and Chris Frith have pioneered major studies of brain disorders throughout their nearly fifty-year career. Here, in Two Heads, their distinguished careers serve as a prism through which they share the compelling story of the birth of neuroscience and their paradigm-shifting discoveries across areas as wide-ranging as autism and schizophrenia research, and new frontiers of social cognition including diversity, prejudice, confidence, collaboration, and empathy. Working with their son Alex Frith and artist Daniel Locke, the professors examine the way that neuroscientific research is now focused on the fact we are a social species, whose brains have evolved to work cooperatively. Using an engaging and approachable style, they delve into a wide range of complex concepts and explain them with humor and clarity. You'll discover what happens when people gather in groups, and how people behave when they're in pairs--either pitted against each other or working together. Is it better to surround yourself with people who are similar to yourself, or different? And, are two heads really better than one?"--Amazon.
Record details
ISBN:1501194070
ISBN:9781501194078
Physical Description:343 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 24 cm print
Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-336) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Prologue: In which we meet the Friths -- What your brain is, what it can do, how it works, and all that -- The Friths : who they are, and how they came to be -- How brains know what they know -- Teaching is a tool, copying is an instinct -- Explaining empathy : the latest chapter in the history of neuroscience -- How the brain knows about itself -- Interlude: Doing science properly is difficult -- Think, and think again -- Watching brains at work -- Two heads really are better than one -- When cooperation breeds confusion -- Free will and regret -- In-groups and out-groups -- Reputation matters -- Epilogue: In which the Friths host a party.
Book