Ebook: The vicarious brain, creator of worlds

Groping around a familiar room in the dark, relearning to read after a brain injury, navigating a virtual landscape through an avatar: all are expressions of vicariance--when the brain substitutes one process or function for another. Alain Berthoz shows that this capacity allows humans to think creatively in an increasingly complex world.--;Prologue -- Introduction -- Part I. The vicarious act -- 1. The brain as a problem-solver -- 2. Perceiving and acting -- 3. The personal body, self, and identity -- 4. Vicariance and changing perspective -- Part II. Ontogenesis and plasticity -- 5. The stages of vicariance -- 6. Vicariance and brain plasticity -- Part III. Vicariance and sharing emotions -- 7. Sympathy and empathy -- 8. Vicarious emotion -- Part IV. Education -- 9. Vicarious learning -- Epilogue.