How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine . . . for Now

Product Description
“There are words that are so familiar they obscure rather than illuminate the thing they mean, and ‘learning’ is such a word. It seems so ordinary, everyone does it. Actually it’s more of a black box, which Dehaene cracks open to reveal the awesome secrets within.”--The New York Times Book ReviewAn illuminating dive into the latest science on our brain's remarkable learning abilities and the potential of the machines we program to imitate them\nThe human brain is an extraordinary learning machine. Its ability to reprogram itself is unparalleled, and it remains the best source of inspiration for recent developments in artificial intelligence. But how do we learn? What innate biological foundations underlie our ability to acquire new information, and what principles modulate their efficiency?\nIn
How We Learn, Stanislas Dehaene finds the boundary of computer science, neurobiology, and cognitive psychology to explain how learning really works and how to make the best use of the brain’s learning algorithms in our schools and universities, as well as in everyday life and at any age.
Review
"There are words that are so familiar they obscure rather than illuminate the thing they mean, and ‘learning’ is such a word. It seems so ordinary, everyone does it. Actually it’s more of a black box, which Dehaene cracks open to reveal the awesome secrets within . . . His explanation of the basic machinery of the brain is an excellent primer.”
--The New York Times Book Review
“[An] expert overview of learning . . . Never mind our opposable thumb, upright posture, fire, tools, or language; it is education that enabled humans to conquer the world . . . Dehaene's fourth insightful exploration of neuroscience will pay dividends for attentive readers.”
--Kirkus Reviews\n“[Dehaene] rigorously examines our remarkable capacity for learning. The baby brain is especially awesome and not a ‘blank slate’ . . . Dehaene’s portrait of the human brain is fascinating.”
--Booklist“A richly instructive [book] for educators, parents, and others interested in how to most effectively foster the pursuit of knowledge.”
--Publishers WeeklyPraise for Reading in the Brain:\n"Splendid...Dehaene reveals how decades of low-tech experiments and high-tech brain-imaging studies have unwrapped the mystery of reading and revealed its component parts...A pleasure to read. [Dehaene] never oversimplifies; he takes the time to tell the whole story, and he tells it in a literate way."
—The Wall Street Journal\n"Masterful...a delight to read and scientifically precise."
—Nature\nPraise for Consciousness and the Brain:\n"Ambitious . . . Dehaene offers nothing less than a blueprint for brainsplaining one of the world's deepest mysteries. . . . [A] fantastic book."
—The Washington Post\n"Dehaene is a maestro of the unconscious."
—Scientific American Mind\n"Brilliant... Essential reading for those who want to experience the excitement of the search for the mind in the brain."
—Nature
About the Author
Stanislas Dehaene is the director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit in Saclay, France, and the professor of experimental cognitive psychology at the Collège de France. He is currently the president of the Scientific Council of the French Ministry of Education.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1\nSeven Definitions of Learning\nWhat does "learning" mean? My first and most general definition is the following: to learn is to form an internal model of the external world.\nYou may not be aware of it, but your brain has acquired thousands of internal models of the outside world. Metaphorically speaking, they are like miniature mock-ups more or less faithful to the reality they represent. We all have in our brains, for example, a mental map of our neighborhood and our home-all we have to do is close our eyes and envision them with our thoughts. Obviously, none of us were born with this mental map-we