Cognitive Science: New Developments and Future Directions

256 Pages·2022·11.814 MB·English

by  Ramesh Kumar Mishra

Academic cognitive psychology can be characterized as the pursuit of deep
philosophical questions with empirical means, and indeed the first professors
of psychology were affiliated at philosophical faculties. Philosophy and
psychology have parted ways since then, but this brave book tries to bring
these two disciplines back again into closer touch. Not by going back in
time, but by moving forward, not shying away from recent developments
in neural plasticity, artificial intelligence, morality, and gender issues. This
is not only courageous and timely, but also serving an important function
in encountering the continuing fragmentation of our scientific disciplines by
means of a bold integrative approach. Very well done indeed!
Bernhard Hommel
Technical University, Dresden
Cognitive Science is now over a half century old. Ramesh Kumar Mishra has
written an up-to-date account of work on standard topics (like attention and
consciousness) as well as ones rarely covered in texts (e.g., religion, morality,
and gender). While reporting findings carefully, he also presents his own
viewpoints.
Howard Gardner
Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
In Cognitive Science, Dr. Ramesh Kumar Mishra provides a masterful
introduction to several of the more fascinating (and contentious) topics in
contemporary cognitive science. The well-written text is aimed at intermediate
students, as well as scholars in other disciplines who are curious about this
rapidly changing field of study. Mishra covers a wide-ranging but selective
sample of major issues. He has a fine feel for historical and philosophical
context and takes care to identify significant theories and summarize important
experiments. Mishra does not shy away from difficult topics – he tackles
both consciousness and gender, for example – and he does so in order to
frame what cognitive science currently understands, what it hopes to be able
to discover, and what may be beyond its reach.
Thomas Wynn
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus
University of Colorado
This is not a typical text on Cognitive Science, and this is this book’s strength.
If you want to find out about state-of-the-art research in language processing,
vision science, neuroscience, learning, and computational approaches to
cognition, you would be well-served by a more traditional text. But if you
want to find out about morality, social interaction, gender identity, religion,
AI, consciousness and their relationships to cognition and its evolution, then
this book is for you. It is a taster of many aspects of cognitive behavior that
are often left out from traditional texts or courses on Cognitive Science.
Mishra is not afraid to tackle topics head-on that others have skirted around.
And although he confesses to not being a reductionist (which many cognitive
scientists are), his approach to these many topics is even-handed. Where the
field is split between one view or another, he explains the alternatives; this
book will educate, not indoctrinate. It will enrich its readers.
Gerry Altmann
Department of Psychological Sciences
University of Connecticut
Cognitive Science
This volume provides an overview of cognitive science and critically assesses areas
within the topic that are evolving rapidly. Using multidisciplinary studies and rich
empirical literature, discussions and demonstrations, this book:
• Discusses the evolution of cognition with reference to material records and the
use of brain imaging
• Highlights emerging domains and novel themes within cognitive science such
as transgender cognition, space cognition, cross-cultural cognition, futuristic
artificial intelligence, social cognition and moral cognition
• Reflects on the status of cognition research in these emerging areas and critically
evaluates their current progress
• Explores data both from behavioural and neuroimaging research literature, and
sheds light on the potential effects of technological growth and changing habits
on attention and cognitive abilities of humans
• Examines the effects of religious and meditative practices on its core cognitive
science components
• Speculates research domains that would gain importance in the next few decades
in cognitive science research
Finding commonalities in theoretical frameworks and models in upcoming areas in
cognition research, this comprehensive study will be of interest to students, researchers
and teachers of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, medical
science, and computer science. It will also be helpful for academicians, psychologists,
neuroscientists, mental health professionals, medical professionals, counsellors and
those looking for an alternate perspective on the topic.
Ramesh Kumar Mishra is a cognitive scientist currently teaching at the University of
Hyderabad. He has explored the dynamics of the human mind within the cognitive
science framework. His most recent monographs have been on topics as diverse as
bilingualism and the interaction of language with vision and attention. He is a fellow
of the Psychonomic Society, USA, and is the editor-in-chief of the International
Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science (Springer). He is deeply interested in the
question of the mind, its evolution and its contemporary manifestation in different
facets of life. The chapters of this book summarise his current thinking, which connects
the mind to the world.

Cognitive Science
New Developments and Future
Directions
Ramesh Kumar Mishra
Cover image: Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
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© 2023 Ramesh Kumar Mishra
The right of Ramesh Kumar Mishra to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-14765-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-32656-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-31605-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003316053
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To my mother

Contents
List of Figures x
Preface xii
1 Introduction 1
2 Evolution of Cognition 22
3 Attention 41
4 Current Research on Consciousness 64
5 Neuroplasticity 100
6 Artificial Intelligence and Agency 130
7 Mind, Cognition, and Religion 158
8 Self, Morality, and Cognition 179
9 Gender and Cognition 195
10 Future Directions 214
Index 240