Descartes' ErrorIn this wondrously lucid and engaging book, renowned neurologist Antonio Damasio demonstrates what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking. Descartes' Error takes the reader on an enthralling journey of scientific discovery, starting with the case of Phineas Gage--a construction foreman who in 1848 survived a freak accident in which a 3 1/2 foot iron rod passed through his head--and continuing on to Damasio's experiences with modern-day neurological patients affected by brain damage. Far from interfering with rationality, his research shows us, the absence of emotion and feeling can break down rationality and make wise decision making almost impossible. |
Contents
Unpleasantness in Vermont | 3 |
Gages Brain Revealed | 20 |
A Modern Phineas Gage | 34 |
Copyright | |
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action activity amygdala anosognosia areas autonomic nervous system axons background feeling basal ganglia basic biological regulation body proper brain damage brain regions brain sectors brain stem cause cerebral cortex changes chapter cingulate circuits cognitive complex components connected consciousness Damasio decision decision-making decks defect Descartes dispositional representations early sensory cortices early visual cortices Elliot emotion and feeling environment experience fact frontal lobe frontally damaged function future Gage's Hanna Damasio happens Harlow hypothalamus idea images impaired individuals innate interactions knowledge language lesions limbic system mechanisms memory mental mind motor muscles neocortex nervous system neural neurobiology neurons neuropsychological neurotransmitter normal nuclei operation options organism's outcome pain particular patients patterns personal and social Phineas Gage phrenology prefrontal cortices prefrontal damage problem rationality result sense serotonin situation skin conductance skin conductance response somatic markers somatic-marker specific stimulus strategies structures subcortical subjects survival synapses thalamus tion ventromedial visceral words