In his series of lectures, Gazzaniga explains how the mind ‘constrains’ the brain just as cars are constrained by the traffic they create. With ‘his trademark wit and pretension’, he covers neuroscience, psychology, and ethics to show that it is incorrect to blame our brains for our behaviour. Considering the latest insights into the physical mechanisms of the mind, he asserts that we are responsible agents who should be held accountable for our actions.
Michael S. Gazzaniga was born on 12 December 1939 in Los Angeles. He is one of the leading researchers in the field he coined ‘cognitive neuroscience’, the study of the neural basis of the mind. After working with Roger Sperry and graduating from the California Institute of Technology in 1964, he held appointments at UC Davis, Dartmouth Medical School, Cornell University Medical College, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and New York University Graduate School. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at UC Santa Barbara.
Founder of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at UC Davis and the Neuroscience Institute at Dartmouth, he was a member of President George W. Bush’s Council on Bioethics. Founder and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Gazzaniga’s important works include The Social Brain (1985), Mind Matters (1988), Nature’s Mind (1992), and The Ethical Brain (2006). His 1995 book The Cognitive Neurosciences, now in its third edition, is recognised at the sourcebook for the field.
