The Brain from Inside Out

György Buzsáki's The Brain from Inside Out examines why the outside-in framework for understanding brain function have become stagnate and points to new directions for understanding neural function. Building upon the success of Rhythms of the Brain, Professor Buzsáki presents the brain as a foretelling device that interacts with its environment through action and the examination of action's consequence. Instead of a brain that represents the world, consider that it is initially filled with nonsense patterns, all of which are gibberish until grounded by action-based interactions. By matching these nonsense "words" to the outcomes of action, they acquire meaning. The Brain from Inside Out explains why our brain is not an information-absorbing coding device, as it is often portrayed, but a venture seeking explorer constantly controlling the body to test hypotheses. Our brain does not process information: it creates it.

György Buzsáki is Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at New York University. Member of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Co-recipient of the 2011 Brain Prize. His main interest is "neural syntax", how segmentation of neural information is organized to support cognitive functions. Book: G. Buzsáki, Rhythms of the Brain, Oxford University Press, 2006