關於
Michael Gazzaniga (born 1939) is an American cognitive neuroscientist and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Often called the 'father of cognitive neuroscience,' he began his career in the 1960s conducting landmark split-brain research under Nobel laureate Roger Sperry at Caltech, studying patients whose cerebral hemispheres had been surgically separated. This work led him to propose the 'left-brain interpreter' — a left-hemisphere system that continually narrates and rationalizes our behavior, constructing the story we experience as a unified self. He co-founded the field of cognitive neuroscience, established the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and directed the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. Through popular books such as Who's in Charge?, he has argued that although brains operate deterministically, responsibility and freedom are real properties that emerge at the social level.
主要貢獻
- Conducted foundational split-brain research under Roger Sperry, revealing the specialized functions of the two cerebral hemispheres
- Proposed the 'left-brain interpreter' — the mind's narrator that constructs a coherent sense of self from separate brain processes
- Co-founded the field of cognitive neuroscience and coined the term with George A. Miller
- Founded the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (1993) and served as founding editor of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Authored influential books including Who's in Charge? (2011), arguing that brains are automatic but people are free
影片與訪談
思想連結
Iain McGilchrist
思想對照精神科醫師、神經科學家與作家
這是對同一批裂腦證據的兩種讀法。Gazzaniga 讓病人的左半腦看雞爪、右半腦看雪景；左手挑了鏟子之後，負責說話的左半腦毫不遲疑地解釋：清雞舍需要鏟子，而他把這個敘事者稱為「詮釋者」，視為統一自我的黏合劑。McGilchrist 卻把同樣自信的編造讀成左半腦的根本缺陷——寧可補上「看似合理、前後一致的東西」，也不肯承認缺口——並以此診斷了整個文化。
fs.blog · en.wikipedia.org · McGilchrist, I. (2009). The Master and His Emissary. Yale University Press
丹尼爾·丹尼特
思想同道哲學家與認知科學家
兩位相容論者，從相反的兩端走到同一個立場。Gazzaniga 從實驗室出發，看到大腦在詮釋者說出故事之前就已行動，得出「大腦是自動的，人卻是自由的」；Dennett 從哲學出發，在《Freedom Evolves》中主張，值得想要的自由意志是演化與文化建造出來的，不是物理定律裡的一道縫隙。兩人各自補上對方缺的那一塊：給哲學家一個機制，給科學家一份許可。
youtube.com · Dennett, D. (2003). Freedom Evolves. Viking
