How Thoughts Become Actions
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Description
Book Introduction
The ability that makes us human and the hottest topic in brain science
The first textbook covering everything about cognitive control!
How can we break free from instinctive, habitual behavior and act consciously? Why are we able to forgo immediate pleasure or happiness and instead choose actions that contribute to long-term goals? In other words, how do thoughts become actions? "Cognitive control," the process that transforms thoughts into actions, is a growing research topic in brain science and cognitive psychology.
Without cognitive control processes, we would struggle to perform even the simplest daily tasks, such as choosing from a menu or keeping an appointment.
But the mystery of what exactly cognitive control processes are and how they work is only just beginning to be unraveled.
In this book, pioneering neuroscientist David Badr explores the nature, evolution, and inner workings of cognitive control through cutting-edge research, vivid clinical cases, and examples from everyday life.
Along the way, readers will discover that cognitive control is deeply intertwined with every aspect of our lives—multitasking, willpower, habitual mistakes, memory, poor decision-making, and changes in brain function across the lifespan—and has a profound impact on happiness and well-being.
The first textbook covering everything about cognitive control!
How can we break free from instinctive, habitual behavior and act consciously? Why are we able to forgo immediate pleasure or happiness and instead choose actions that contribute to long-term goals? In other words, how do thoughts become actions? "Cognitive control," the process that transforms thoughts into actions, is a growing research topic in brain science and cognitive psychology.
Without cognitive control processes, we would struggle to perform even the simplest daily tasks, such as choosing from a menu or keeping an appointment.
But the mystery of what exactly cognitive control processes are and how they work is only just beginning to be unraveled.
In this book, pioneering neuroscientist David Badr explores the nature, evolution, and inner workings of cognitive control through cutting-edge research, vivid clinical cases, and examples from everyday life.
Along the way, readers will discover that cognitive control is deeply intertwined with every aspect of our lives—multitasking, willpower, habitual mistakes, memory, poor decision-making, and changes in brain function across the lifespan—and has a profound impact on happiness and well-being.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Chapter 1: Knowing and Doing
Chapter 2: The Birth of Cognitive Control
Chapter 3: The Dilemma of Stability and Flexibility
Chapter 4: The Hierarchy of the Mind
Chapter 5: The Secret of Multitasking
Chapter 6: Suspension and Restraint
Chapter 7: Costs and Benefits of Cognitive Control
Chapter 8: Memory and Information Retrieval
Chapter 9 Cognitive Control and the Life Cycle
Chapter 10 Review: The Challenges We Have Been Given
Acknowledgements
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Chapter 2: The Birth of Cognitive Control
Chapter 3: The Dilemma of Stability and Flexibility
Chapter 4: The Hierarchy of the Mind
Chapter 5: The Secret of Multitasking
Chapter 6: Suspension and Restraint
Chapter 7: Costs and Benefits of Cognitive Control
Chapter 8: Memory and Information Retrieval
Chapter 9 Cognitive Control and the Life Cycle
Chapter 10 Review: The Challenges We Have Been Given
Acknowledgements
annotation
Search
Detailed image
Into the book
“There is a great mystery in a cup of coffee.
It's not about the molecular structure of coffee, or the chemical interactions in that cup of coffee I had this morning, or the origin of the cheap beans I bought.
Of course, each and every coffee bean is a mystery.
What makes coffee mysterious is that scientists don't know how a single cup of coffee comes to be.
It's clear that someone made the coffee.
Of course, we still don't have a satisfactory explanation for how the human brain successfully orchestrates the numerous steps that go into making that coffee.
When we set a goal, like making coffee, how does the brain plan and execute the specific actions necessary to reach that goal? In other words, how do we accomplish that task? --- p.11
“The human brain has an amazing ability to manage all those buzzing, buzzing goals.
To efficiently plan and execute the course of action.
In fact, our brains are so good at it that we just see our daily routines as routine.
So no one is making a grand blockbuster about starting every morning with coffee.
Most of us take our ability to get things done for granted, so we only pay attention to it in the rare instances when we encounter difficulties or fail.
But in fact, this ability is quite unusual and wonderful, and at the same time, it is pitifully weak.” --- p.14
“We often overlook this gap when we interpret our own or others’ inability to accomplish something.
“If only my uncle knew how bad soda is for you, he wouldn’t drink three bottles a day.
“Let’s email my uncle another article about diabetes.” Apparently, my uncle never learned about the dangers of sugar and obesity in school.
But even if you took the class, you may not have been able to organize your life to practice it consistently.
In short, knowing may be half the battle, but the other half should not be trivialized.” --- p.32
“Cognitive control allows us to perform tasks productively.
It is possible to imagine and execute tasks that have never been done before and for which there is no evolutionary built-in program.
The productivity of cognitive control occurs when a constructive behavioral structure operates by combining and recombining pieces gathered from previously performed tasks to perform a new task.
In particular, these two properties of productivity and composition are also characteristics of language, another adaptive function unique to humans.
This similarity is unlikely to be a coincidence.
Language and cognitive control are closely related, and the success of one in the adaptation process will depend to some extent on the circumstances of the other.
There has been a long-standing debate over whether the two are actually completely separate systems.” --- p.67
“If you were to choose the most awarded writer in America, it would definitely be Eugene O’Neill.
He was recognized for his contributions to American literature with masterpieces such as "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey into Night," and won the Pulitzer Prize four times for his plays that portrayed early industrial society in a dark and pessimistic light.
And to this day, he is the only American playwright to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
O'Neal was also a masterful multitasker.
He is known to have always written two plays simultaneously.
Anyone who has ever written a masterpiece knows that this is truly amazing.
I write a lot, but I can't imagine writing another book at the same time as this one.
Art must be focused and immersed in its subject matter to the highest degree.
Artists often spend months, even years, preparing a project.
It is therefore remarkable that O'Neill was able to create two works of such high quality while simultaneously writing them with different characters, plots, themes, and settings.
As we'll discuss in this chapter, multitasking is generally a bad practice that reduces effectiveness and efficiency.
So how did O'Neill multitask so well? Was he a genius born with a special talent? Perhaps if he had focused on one work at a time, he might have produced even more brilliant works and won two Nobel Prizes! Both explanations are plausible.
But another way to explain his extraordinary abilities lies in his unique way of working.”
It's not about the molecular structure of coffee, or the chemical interactions in that cup of coffee I had this morning, or the origin of the cheap beans I bought.
Of course, each and every coffee bean is a mystery.
What makes coffee mysterious is that scientists don't know how a single cup of coffee comes to be.
It's clear that someone made the coffee.
Of course, we still don't have a satisfactory explanation for how the human brain successfully orchestrates the numerous steps that go into making that coffee.
When we set a goal, like making coffee, how does the brain plan and execute the specific actions necessary to reach that goal? In other words, how do we accomplish that task? --- p.11
“The human brain has an amazing ability to manage all those buzzing, buzzing goals.
To efficiently plan and execute the course of action.
In fact, our brains are so good at it that we just see our daily routines as routine.
So no one is making a grand blockbuster about starting every morning with coffee.
Most of us take our ability to get things done for granted, so we only pay attention to it in the rare instances when we encounter difficulties or fail.
But in fact, this ability is quite unusual and wonderful, and at the same time, it is pitifully weak.” --- p.14
“We often overlook this gap when we interpret our own or others’ inability to accomplish something.
“If only my uncle knew how bad soda is for you, he wouldn’t drink three bottles a day.
“Let’s email my uncle another article about diabetes.” Apparently, my uncle never learned about the dangers of sugar and obesity in school.
But even if you took the class, you may not have been able to organize your life to practice it consistently.
In short, knowing may be half the battle, but the other half should not be trivialized.” --- p.32
“Cognitive control allows us to perform tasks productively.
It is possible to imagine and execute tasks that have never been done before and for which there is no evolutionary built-in program.
The productivity of cognitive control occurs when a constructive behavioral structure operates by combining and recombining pieces gathered from previously performed tasks to perform a new task.
In particular, these two properties of productivity and composition are also characteristics of language, another adaptive function unique to humans.
This similarity is unlikely to be a coincidence.
Language and cognitive control are closely related, and the success of one in the adaptation process will depend to some extent on the circumstances of the other.
There has been a long-standing debate over whether the two are actually completely separate systems.” --- p.67
“If you were to choose the most awarded writer in America, it would definitely be Eugene O’Neill.
He was recognized for his contributions to American literature with masterpieces such as "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey into Night," and won the Pulitzer Prize four times for his plays that portrayed early industrial society in a dark and pessimistic light.
And to this day, he is the only American playwright to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
O'Neal was also a masterful multitasker.
He is known to have always written two plays simultaneously.
Anyone who has ever written a masterpiece knows that this is truly amazing.
I write a lot, but I can't imagine writing another book at the same time as this one.
Art must be focused and immersed in its subject matter to the highest degree.
Artists often spend months, even years, preparing a project.
It is therefore remarkable that O'Neill was able to create two works of such high quality while simultaneously writing them with different characters, plots, themes, and settings.
As we'll discuss in this chapter, multitasking is generally a bad practice that reduces effectiveness and efficiency.
So how did O'Neill multitask so well? Was he a genius born with a special talent? Perhaps if he had focused on one work at a time, he might have produced even more brilliant works and won two Nobel Prizes! Both explanations are plausible.
But another way to explain his extraordinary abilities lies in his unique way of working.”
--- p.199
Publisher's Review
How can humans overcome instinct and act consciously?
What happens in the brain when we set goals and choose the optimal action?
Cognitive control theory, the hottest topic in neuroscience
The first textbook on cognitive control theory!
“If you’re curious about what’s happening at the forefront of the cerebrum, the most advanced part of the human brain, read this book.” _Jae Seung Jeong (neuroscientist, author of “Science Concert” and “Twelve Footsteps”)
“It gives us a new perspective on human decision-making and behavior.”
Matthew Botvinic, Research Director, Google DeepMind
“No one has thought more deeply about how the brain works than David Badr.” —John Duncan (author of How Intelligence Emerged)
"How Thoughts Become Actions" is the first general education book to examine cognitive control theory, the hottest emerging field in brain science, from its origins to the most recent controversies.
In this book, David Badr, one of the most promising young scientists in the field of neuroscience, illuminates the secrets of the cognitive control process that is just beginning to be discovered through the latest research results in neuroscience and vivid clinical cases, and explains them in an easy-to-understand way by comparing them to everyday situations.
In 1986, a patient known as EVR visited a psychiatric hospital in the United States.
He was a 44-year-old accountant who had undergone surgery to remove a frontal lobe tumor ten years ago. EVR was a highly intelligent person, scoring in the top 1% on intelligence tests administered at a psychiatric hospital, and his insightful conversations impressed the doctors and scientists he spoke with.
But outside the hospital, his life was falling apart miserably.
After being fired from his job for not keeping his appointments, he blew his life savings on reckless business ventures, and went through repeated divorces and remarriages.
My daily life was so miserable that I would spend an entire day washing my hair, and when I went to a restaurant, I would read the same menu over and over again.
How could someone so intelligent and educated be so incapable of even the simplest tasks, like washing his hair or choosing a menu? What on earth did he lose after undergoing frontal lobotomy?
The ability that EVR lost is the brain's 'cognitive control' function.
Cognitive regulation bridges the gap between thought and action.
Our brain uses cognitive control to plan, keep track of that plan, and align goals with actions through a multi-step process.
Simply put, without cognitive control, we wouldn't be able to perform even the easiest tasks efficiently.
Why is it difficult to drive and use KakaoTalk at the same time?
How can I resist eating that last piece of cake?
Why does solving math problems feel mentally tiring?
Imagine waking up in the morning and making coffee.
The coffee-making task consists of several subtasks: boiling water, grinding coffee beans, preparing coffee cups, pouring water, and pouring coffee.
Some tasks require a specific order (like preparing the cup before pouring the coffee), while others don't (like grinding the beans first and then boiling the water).
While making coffee, other tasks like phone calls or toasting bagels may come in the way.
Maybe something suddenly pops into your head that you need to do in the afternoon.
To successfully brew coffee, you must overcome all these obstacles and execute the necessary subtasks in the proper order.
The role of cognitive control is to make this possible.
Cognitive control is such an important brain function, but unlike concepts like memory, intelligence, and behavior, there is no intuitive way to understand it.
Cognitive control processes lie hidden in the murky space between knowing and doing, belonging to neither.
Because of this, doctors and scientists have long mistakenly believed that the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for cognitive control, had no significant function.
The identity and importance of cognitive control processes have been revealed relatively recently in the history of brain science.
“Cognitive control is like catching fish in a river with your bare hands.
You can make out the shimmering, glittering beings beneath the surface,
“When you try to catch it, it’s already gone.”
In the first half of the book, the author explores the origins, evolution, and internal workings of cognitive control.
How did we evolve the ability to act consciously, moving beyond instinctive and habitual behaviors like breathing, eating, and sleeping? Is cognitive control a uniquely human ability? Badr traces the evolution of cognitive control, drawing on cognitive psychology experiments with animals, computer simulations, and recent archaeological findings.
Next, the author explains, with authority and at a level accessible to the general reader, the facts currently known about the elements that make up the cognitive control system, such as working memory, hierarchical control, and input/output gating.
After arming readers with a theoretical background on cognitive control, Badr shows how cognitive control processes are involved in nearly every aspect of our conscious functioning, including multitasking, willpower, habitual mistakes, memory, poor decision-making, and changes in cognitive function across the lifespan.
Why are our brains inherently vulnerable to multitasking, and how can we improve it? Why are we able to forgo immediate pleasures or happiness (like cake, social media, or games) in favor of actions that contribute to long-term goals (like running or studying for an exam)? Is mental power a resource that must be recharged when depleted? Will we soon be able to create an AI that mimics the cognitive control functions of the human brain? Sometimes offering surprising answers that defy common sense, and sometimes revealing the true reasons behind seemingly common sense answers, the author guides readers into the world of cognitive control, which influences everything we do.
“Our society is experiencing repeated confusion and frustration in the face of climate change,
“Especially if we remain consistently indifferent, this disconnect between knowing and doing lies at the heart of it.”
Translating thoughts into actions requires a complex and profound system called cognitive control.
So why should we care about cognitive control? David Badr writes in his postscript:
“The content of this book allows us to rethink our lives and the interactions we have as social beings.” While we can understand the impact of cognitive regulation on individual lives, how can we extend this to social implications?
The author addresses the most pressing issue of our time: climate change.
Decades after claims that the Earth's temperature was rising were first made in the 1980s, most scientists and a majority of the public now believe that climate change is serious and that humans are the cause.
Yet we are surprisingly indolent in our approach to climate change.
From the perspective of a neuroscientist studying cognitive regulation, human society is failing to translate knowledge about climate change into appropriate action, much like a frontal lobe patient with impaired cognitive control.
So, is there no hope for us? asks the author.
“I have good news.
Cognitive control means that we always have a choice.” Cognitive control allows humans to consciously choose their behavior, breaking free from innate instincts and habits.
Although we are currently failing, if we properly exercise our social cognitive control functions, "we can achieve anything." This message of hope from a neuroscientist who has experienced countless failures and frustrations of the fragile human brain while studying cognitive control resonates deeply with us living in an age of climate crisis.
What happens in the brain when we set goals and choose the optimal action?
Cognitive control theory, the hottest topic in neuroscience
The first textbook on cognitive control theory!
“If you’re curious about what’s happening at the forefront of the cerebrum, the most advanced part of the human brain, read this book.” _Jae Seung Jeong (neuroscientist, author of “Science Concert” and “Twelve Footsteps”)
“It gives us a new perspective on human decision-making and behavior.”
Matthew Botvinic, Research Director, Google DeepMind
“No one has thought more deeply about how the brain works than David Badr.” —John Duncan (author of How Intelligence Emerged)
"How Thoughts Become Actions" is the first general education book to examine cognitive control theory, the hottest emerging field in brain science, from its origins to the most recent controversies.
In this book, David Badr, one of the most promising young scientists in the field of neuroscience, illuminates the secrets of the cognitive control process that is just beginning to be discovered through the latest research results in neuroscience and vivid clinical cases, and explains them in an easy-to-understand way by comparing them to everyday situations.
In 1986, a patient known as EVR visited a psychiatric hospital in the United States.
He was a 44-year-old accountant who had undergone surgery to remove a frontal lobe tumor ten years ago. EVR was a highly intelligent person, scoring in the top 1% on intelligence tests administered at a psychiatric hospital, and his insightful conversations impressed the doctors and scientists he spoke with.
But outside the hospital, his life was falling apart miserably.
After being fired from his job for not keeping his appointments, he blew his life savings on reckless business ventures, and went through repeated divorces and remarriages.
My daily life was so miserable that I would spend an entire day washing my hair, and when I went to a restaurant, I would read the same menu over and over again.
How could someone so intelligent and educated be so incapable of even the simplest tasks, like washing his hair or choosing a menu? What on earth did he lose after undergoing frontal lobotomy?
The ability that EVR lost is the brain's 'cognitive control' function.
Cognitive regulation bridges the gap between thought and action.
Our brain uses cognitive control to plan, keep track of that plan, and align goals with actions through a multi-step process.
Simply put, without cognitive control, we wouldn't be able to perform even the easiest tasks efficiently.
Why is it difficult to drive and use KakaoTalk at the same time?
How can I resist eating that last piece of cake?
Why does solving math problems feel mentally tiring?
Imagine waking up in the morning and making coffee.
The coffee-making task consists of several subtasks: boiling water, grinding coffee beans, preparing coffee cups, pouring water, and pouring coffee.
Some tasks require a specific order (like preparing the cup before pouring the coffee), while others don't (like grinding the beans first and then boiling the water).
While making coffee, other tasks like phone calls or toasting bagels may come in the way.
Maybe something suddenly pops into your head that you need to do in the afternoon.
To successfully brew coffee, you must overcome all these obstacles and execute the necessary subtasks in the proper order.
The role of cognitive control is to make this possible.
Cognitive control is such an important brain function, but unlike concepts like memory, intelligence, and behavior, there is no intuitive way to understand it.
Cognitive control processes lie hidden in the murky space between knowing and doing, belonging to neither.
Because of this, doctors and scientists have long mistakenly believed that the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for cognitive control, had no significant function.
The identity and importance of cognitive control processes have been revealed relatively recently in the history of brain science.
“Cognitive control is like catching fish in a river with your bare hands.
You can make out the shimmering, glittering beings beneath the surface,
“When you try to catch it, it’s already gone.”
In the first half of the book, the author explores the origins, evolution, and internal workings of cognitive control.
How did we evolve the ability to act consciously, moving beyond instinctive and habitual behaviors like breathing, eating, and sleeping? Is cognitive control a uniquely human ability? Badr traces the evolution of cognitive control, drawing on cognitive psychology experiments with animals, computer simulations, and recent archaeological findings.
Next, the author explains, with authority and at a level accessible to the general reader, the facts currently known about the elements that make up the cognitive control system, such as working memory, hierarchical control, and input/output gating.
After arming readers with a theoretical background on cognitive control, Badr shows how cognitive control processes are involved in nearly every aspect of our conscious functioning, including multitasking, willpower, habitual mistakes, memory, poor decision-making, and changes in cognitive function across the lifespan.
Why are our brains inherently vulnerable to multitasking, and how can we improve it? Why are we able to forgo immediate pleasures or happiness (like cake, social media, or games) in favor of actions that contribute to long-term goals (like running or studying for an exam)? Is mental power a resource that must be recharged when depleted? Will we soon be able to create an AI that mimics the cognitive control functions of the human brain? Sometimes offering surprising answers that defy common sense, and sometimes revealing the true reasons behind seemingly common sense answers, the author guides readers into the world of cognitive control, which influences everything we do.
“Our society is experiencing repeated confusion and frustration in the face of climate change,
“Especially if we remain consistently indifferent, this disconnect between knowing and doing lies at the heart of it.”
Translating thoughts into actions requires a complex and profound system called cognitive control.
So why should we care about cognitive control? David Badr writes in his postscript:
“The content of this book allows us to rethink our lives and the interactions we have as social beings.” While we can understand the impact of cognitive regulation on individual lives, how can we extend this to social implications?
The author addresses the most pressing issue of our time: climate change.
Decades after claims that the Earth's temperature was rising were first made in the 1980s, most scientists and a majority of the public now believe that climate change is serious and that humans are the cause.
Yet we are surprisingly indolent in our approach to climate change.
From the perspective of a neuroscientist studying cognitive regulation, human society is failing to translate knowledge about climate change into appropriate action, much like a frontal lobe patient with impaired cognitive control.
So, is there no hope for us? asks the author.
“I have good news.
Cognitive control means that we always have a choice.” Cognitive control allows humans to consciously choose their behavior, breaking free from innate instincts and habits.
Although we are currently failing, if we properly exercise our social cognitive control functions, "we can achieve anything." This message of hope from a neuroscientist who has experienced countless failures and frustrations of the fragile human brain while studying cognitive control resonates deeply with us living in an age of climate crisis.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Publication date: February 14, 2022
- Page count, weight, size: 492 pages | 586g | 153*224*30mm
- ISBN13: 9791164051519
- ISBN10: 1164051512
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