This book examines what seems to be the basic challenge in neuroscience today: understanding how experience generated by the human brain is related to the physical world we live in. The 25 short chapters present the argument and evidence that brains address this problem on a wholly trial and error basis. The goal is to encourage neuroscientists, computer scientists, philosophers, and other interested readers to consider this concept of neural function and its implications, not least of which is the conclusion that brains don't "compute."

Preface PART I. TWO REALITIES Chapter 1. Solving Problems Chapter 2. Objective and Subjective Reality PART II. Computation Chapter 3. Algorithms Chapter 4. Coding for Computers PART III. ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS Chapter 5. Neural Networks Chapter 6. The Resurrection of Neural Networks Chapter 7. Reinforcement Learning Part IV. perception Chapter 8. What We Perceive Chapter 9. Lines and Intervals Chapter 10. Angles Chapter 11. Lightness and Darkness Chapter 12. Empirical Ranking Chapter 13. Color Chapter 14. Colorimetry Chapter 15. Motion Speed Chapter 16. Motion Direction Chapter 17. Size Chapter 18. Stereopsis PART V. Linking OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE Chapter 19. Stimuli and Behavior Chapter 20. Associations Chapter 21. Mechanisms Chapter 22. Reflexes PART VI. THEORIES Chapter 23. Feature Detection Chapter 24. Statistical Inference Chapter 25. Information Theory PART VII. SELF AWARENESS Chapter 26. Awareness Chapter 27. Summing Up