Recent advances in brain physiology and cognitive processing

The discovery of participation of astrocytes as active elements in glutamatergic tripartite synapses (composed by functional units of two neurons and one astrocyte) has led to the construction of models of cognitive functioning in the human brain, focusing on associative learning, sensory integration, conscious processing and memory formation/retrieval. We have modelled human cognitive functions by means of an ensemble of functional units (tripartite synapses) connected by gap junctions that link distributed astrocytes, allowing the formation of intra- and intercellular calcium waves that putatively mediate large-scale cognitive information processing. The model contains a diagram of molecular mechanisms present in tripartite synapses and contributes to explain the physiological bases of cognitive functions. It can be potentially expanded to explain emotional functions and psychiatric phenomena. © MSM 2011.

What affective neuroscience means for science of consciousness

The field of affective neuroscience has emerged from the efforts of Jaak Panksepp in the 1990s and reinforced by the work of, among others, Joseph LeDoux in the 2000s. It is based on the ideas that affective processes are supported by brain structures that appeared earlier in the phylogenetic scale (as the periaqueductal gray area), they run in parallel with cognitive processes, and can influence behaviour independently of cognitive judgements. This kind of approach contrasts with the hegemonic concept of conscious processing in cognitive neurosciences, which is based on the identification of brain circuits responsible for the processing of (cognitive) representations. Within cognitive neurosciences, the frontal lobes are assigned the role of coordinators in maintaining affective states and their emotional expressions under cognitive control. An intermediary view is the Damasio-Bechara Somatic Marker model, which puts cognition under partial somatic-affective control. We present here our efforts to make a synthesis of these views, by proposing the existence of two interacting brain circuits; the first one in charge of cognitive processes and the second mediating feelings about cognitive contents. The coupling of the two circuits promotes an endogenous feedback that supports conscious processes. Within this framework, we present the defence that detailed study of both affective and cognitive processes, their interactions, as well of their respective brain networks, is necessary for a science of consciousness.© MSM 2013.

A Commentary on de Sousa′s towards an Integrative Theory of Consciousness

De Sousa′s comprehensive two-part review of a diversity of contemporary approaches to the study of consciousness is highly welcome. He makes us aware of a proliferation of theoretical and empirical approaches targeting a common theme, but diverging in many ways. He skilfully accomplishes a classification of kinds of approach, identification of the main representatives, their contributions, and respective limitations. However, he does not show how the desired integration could be accomplished. Besides summarising de Sousa′s efficient analytical work, I make critical comments and briefly report my contribution for the integration project.© MSM 2013.

The embodied embedded character of system 1 processing

In the last thirty years, a relatively large group of cognitive scientists have begun characterising the mind in terms of two distinct, relatively autonomous systems. To account for paradoxes in empirical results of studies mainly on reasoning, Dual Process Theories were developed. Such Dual Process Theories generally agree that System 1 is rapid, automatic, parallel, and heuristic-based and System 2 is slow, capacity-demanding, sequential, and related to consciousness. While System 2 can still be decently understood from a traditional cognitivist approach, I will argue that it is essential for System 1 processing to be comprehended in an Embodied Embedded approach to Cognition.© MSM 2013.

A natureza e a relação sociedade-natureza na memória de velhas professoras

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

Lineamentos da atividade mediadora em Vygotski

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Liberalismo, comunitarismo e teoria do discurso: sobre as interpretações da justiça na democracia

Pós-graduação em Filosofia - FFC

A figura do herói antigo nas crônicas medievais da Península Ibérica (séculos XIII e XIV)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Para além da nagocracia: a (re)africanização do camdomblé nação angola-congo em São Paulo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Ética e literatura: uma reflexão sobre a formação de professores a partir do romance Doidinho de José Lins do Rego

Pós-graduação em Educação - FFC

Caracterização da percepção do homem como pai de criança portadora de deficiência mental

Pós-graduação em Psicologia - FCLAS

A pontuação como marcador expressivo da disritmia poética em Lavoura Arcaica, de Raduan Nassar

Pós-graduação em Letras - IBILCE

Esporte escolar e emancipação humana: reflexões à luz da ontologia marxiana

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Formação continuada de professores de química: enfrentando coletivamente o desafio da informática na escola

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A urdidura espacial do capital e do trabalho no cerrado do sudoeste goiano

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)