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Essays by Julian Jaynes

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Articles related to Jaynes' bicameral mind and related theories:

  • Religion: Is It All In Your Head?
    Talan, Jamie
    Psychology Today, 1998, April, Vol. 31 (2): 9
    Vilayanur Ramachandran, M.D., a neurologist, believes that somewhere in the brain's temporal lobes there may be neural circuitry for religious experience; he points to the fact that about 25 percent of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy are obsessed with religion. He thinks that these patients' seizures caused damage to the pathway that connects two areas of the brain: the one that recognizes sensory information and the one that gives such information emotional context.

  • Terror and the Bicameral Mind: Joyce Carol Oates's Use of Julian Jaynes in Her Pseudonymous Fiction
    Dean, Sharon L.
    A Journal of Detection, 1994, Spring-Summer, Vol. 15 (1)

  • The Role of Language in Intelligence
    Dennett, Daniel
    in What is Intelligence?, The Darwin College Lectures, ed. Jean Khalfa, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press. 1994

  • The Origin of Consciousness, Gains and Losses: Walker Percy vs. Julian Jaynes
    Mooneyham, Laura
    Language and Communication: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1993, July, Vol. 13 (3)

  • In Two Minds About Consciousness (Book Review)
    Holderness, Mike
    New Scientist, 1993, July 17, Vol. 139

  • Vico and Jaynes: Neurocultural and Cognitive Operations in the Origin of Consciousness
    Haskell, Robert E.
    New Vico Studies, 1993, Volume XI
    This paper will first explore significant parallels between Vico and Jaynes; second, suggest the equivalence of the mind of Vico's "first men" with Jaynes' bicameral mind; third, and what is perhaps more important, it will suggest that Jaynes' theory of consciousness and its evidential base generally support Vico's historical theory of mental development.

  • The Feeling of A Presence and Verbal Meaningfulness in Context of Temporal Lobe Function: Factor Analytic Verification of the Muses?
    Persinger, Michael, A.; Makarec, Katherine
    Brain and Cognition, 1992, November, Vol. 20 (2): 217-226
    Hypothesized that the feeling of a presence, particularly during periods of profound verbal creativity (reading or writing prose or poetry), is an endemic cognitive phenomenon. Factor analyses of 12 clusters of phenomenological experiences from 348 men and 520 women (aged 18-65 yrs), who enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses over a 10-yr period, supported the hypothesis. The authors conclude that periods of intense meaningfulness (a likely correlate of enhanced burst-firing in the left hippocampal-amygdaloid complex and temporal lobe) allow access to nonverbal representations that are the right hemispheric equivalents of the sense of self; they are perceived as a presence. The relevance of results to the theories of J. Jaynes (1986) and others is discussed.

  • The Oral Aesthetic and the Bicameral Mind
    Lindahl, Carl
    Oral Tradition, 1991, January, Vol. 6 (1)

  • The K'og 'To Dead Father' Hypothesis
    Carr, Michael
    Journal of Liberal Arts, 1989, 77: 51-117

  • The Oracles & Their Cessation; A Tribute to Julian Jaynes
    Stove, David Charles
    Encounter, 1989, April, Vol. 72: 30-38
    There is no mystery about why there is farming or industry, why there is instruction of the young, why there is architecture, medicine, or law. But the most salient fact of all human history is this: that all those things, and many others, have almost always been suffused through-and-through with religion, and subordinated by it. All right: but why does religion exist?
    This is the question of questions concerning Homo sapiens. And I want to commend—and argue with—a book published some dozen years ago which to my mind comes closer to answering that question than everything else I have read about the matter put together. Its author is Julian Jaynes.

  • Faith: The Fifth Psychological Need?
    Dennis, Brent G.
    Journal for Reality Therapy, 1989, Spring, Vol. 8 (2): 39-56
    Argues that new discoveries in brain science suggest that faith may be another basic human need in addition to the needs of belonging, power, fun, and freedom suggested by W. Glasser (1986). The author briefly discusses brain structure and some major events in brain science, including the study of a weakened frontal-limbic connection in a 25-year old man; the frontal lobe surgery of A. Moniz; the split-brain discoveries of R. Sperry; and the brain stimulation discoveries of W. Penfield. In discussing the modular organization theory of M. S. Gazzaniga (1988) and the bicameral mind theory of J. Jaynes (1977), the author suggests that brain structure and physiology may contribute to the existence of spiritual beliefs.

  • Auditory Hallucinations in Princeton University Undergraduates
    Rosenburg, Michael E.
    Senior thesis at Princeton University on file in the Mudd Library, 1988

  • The Brain-Mind Relation, Religious Evolution, and Forms of Consciousness: An Exploratory Statement
    Johnson, Doyle Paul
    Sociological Analysis, 1988, Spring, 49 (1): 52-65

  • What About the Bicameral Mind? [letter]
    Moffic, H. S.
    American Journal of Psychiatry, 1987, May, Vol. 144 (5): 696

  • Jaynes' Chimeric Faces: Another Look into the Mirror
    Roszkowski, Michael J.; Snelbecker, Glenn E.; and Rosen, Robert S.
    Personality and Individual Differences, 1986, Vol. 7 (6)
    Asked 704 5-14 yr olds to indicate which of 2 faces (drawings) appeared happier. The main difference between the faces was the lateral location of their happy side. Selection of the face in which the happy features appear on the observer's left is indicative of a left-visual-field bias (LVF) and is interpreted as a sign of right-hemisphere control of face perception. Despite defects in the published version of this study, results have consistently documented differences between left- and right-handers in their selection of the happier face.

  • Demons, Doubles, and Dinosaurs: Life before Man, The Origin of Consciousness, and 'The Icicle'
    Carrington, Ildiko de Papp
    Essays on Canadian Writing, 1986, Fall, Vol. 33

  • Julian Jaynes' Software Archeology
    Dennett, Daniel
    Canadian Psychology, 1986, April, Vol. 27 (2): 149-154
    Considers the problem of consciousness discussed by J. Jaynes and points to the lack of a definition for this phenomenon. Seven factors used by Jaynes to account for his theory are identified. Jaynes' theory is described as software archaeology without much of a fossil record or print product. Jaynes's idea of the need for a software revolution—in the organization of the human information-processing system—is supported. It is suggested that the most important claim that Jaynes makes is that the origin of consciousness depends on an elaboration of a conceptual scheme under certain social and environmental pressures.

  • Primitive Thoughts
    Miller, Jonathan
    Canadian Psychology, 1986, April, Vol. 27 (2): 155-157
    Critiques J. Jaynes's thesis on consciousness from neurological and anthropological viewpoints. The idea that there are 2 linguistic agencies within the human brain, with the left side evolving phylogenetically to create intelligible utterances and the right side associated with more holistic, imaginative, and creative capabilities, is questioned. It is argued that there is little neurological evidence to support Jaynes's claims that the brain is partitioned and that there is evidence of bicamerally provoked hallucination.

  • Brain Mechanisms for Consciousness and Conscious Experience
    Ojemann, George
    Canadian Psychology, 1986, April, Vol. 27 (2): 158-168
    Reviews the brain mechanism that underlies consciousness, with reference to J. Jaynes's ideas on consciousness and its origin in evolution. The present author distinguishes between individual and collective consciousness, the former being biologic and the latter recorded in culture through language. It is suggested that collective consciousness is the source of Jaynes's evidence for changes in individual consciousness. Evidence is cited to demonstrate a relationship between discrete cortical areas for different language functions and consciousness. It is concluded that conscious experience depends on the left brain language cortex and the thalamocortical activating mechanisms that select appropriate cortical mosaics for a language task and modulate retention of verbal information.

  • Auditory Hallucinations in Nonverbal Quadriplegics
    Hamilton, John
    Psychiatry, 1985, November, Vol. 48 (4): 382-92
    When a system for communicating with nonverbal, quadriplegic, institutionalized residents was developed, it was discovered that many were experiencing auditory hallucinations. Nine cases are presented in this study. The "voices" described have many similar characteristics, the primary one being that they give authoritarian commands that tell the residents how to behave and to which the residents feel compelled to respond. Both the relationship of this phenomenon to the theoretical work of Julian Jaynes and its effect on the lives of the residents are discussed.

  • Big Heads in Old Chinese
    Carr, Michael
    Paper presented at the 18th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, 1985, August 27-29

  • Personation of the Dead in Ancient China
    Carr, Michael
    Computational Analyses of Asian and African Languages, 1985, March, 24: 1-107

  • Pain and Behavior
    Rachlin, Howard
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1985, March, Vol. 8 (1): 43-83
    Discusses sensory pain (a direct function of the intensity of pain stimuli) and psychological pain (modifiable by hypnotism, placebos, and the sociocultural setting). According to physiological and cognitive theory, psychological and sensory pain are both internal processes, with the former influencing the latter as central processes influence peripheral processes. According to behavior theory, sensory pain is a reflex, while psychological pain is an instrumental act; both are overt behaviors. It is suggested that there is no basis for the claim by antibehaviorist philosophers and psychologists that behaviorism, because it cannot explain pain, is less capable of explaining mental phenomena than physiology or cognition. Comments are offered by G. Ainslie, J. H. Atkinson and E. F. Kremer, D. J. Bernstein, K. Campbell, W. C. Clark, W. E. Fordyce, J. Foss, M. Genest, G. Graham, G. Harman, J. Jaynes, P. Kitcher, H. Lacey, J. D. Loeser, A. W. Logue, W. I. Matson, R. Melzack, H. Merskey, T. R. Miles, G. Pepeu, U. T. Place, K. G. Shaver and J. J. Herrman, C. P. Shimp, D. C. Turk and P. Salovey, and P. D. Wall. A response from the author is included.

  • Eternal Rome: Subjective Voices and Immortality
    Maxwell, Ross
    The Psychohistory Review, 1985, 14: 35-43

  • Personality and Consciousness: A Theoretical Essay
    Natsoulas, Thomas
    Cognition and Brain Theory, 1984, Spring, Vol 7 (2): 135-166
    Introduces a concept of conscious personality that refers to the distinctive, subjective organization of a person's personal consciousness. Consciousness is discussed in relation to the ability to identify with one's mental life, categorize mental episodes, relate segments of this mental life in a maximally meaningful way, relate mental episodes to their causes and effects, and use these contents to acquire knowledge. The nature of the basic ingredients of personal consciousness is considered in relation to H. A. Murray's (1936, 1938) description of regnant processes, and differing views on the property of consciousness are reviewed. The depreciation of consciousness in modern psychology is examined, with particular reference to the position of J. Jaynes (1976).

  • Psychoanalysis and the Two Cerebral Hemispheres
    Levin, Fred M.; Vuckovich, D. M.
    Annual of Psychoanalysis, 1983, Vol 11: 171-197
    Reviews recent neurological knowledge of the two cerebral hemispheres and the implications of bicameral structure and functions for psychoanalysis. The onset and pattern of myelinization of the interhemispheral tracts are discussed as they relate to the Oedipal phase. Hypoconnection states and data on hemispheric idiosyncracies also are examined, and it is suggested that topographic and structural psychoanalytical models are entirely compatible with the latest neurological understanding of the bicameral brain. Following a discussion of Freud's work on aphasia and primary and secondary process, the bridging role of the metaphor in the analyst's transference interpretations is discussed. How this bridging of metaphor applies specifically to states of disordered connection of the 2 hemispheres is described, and neuropsychiatric hypotheses of disavowal and repression are presented. Clinical examples of communication from and with the bicameral mind are presented, and it is suggested that in the psychoanalytic situation the analyst may serve as a functional linkage between the analysand's 2 hemispheres.

  • Sidelights of Xin "Heart, Mind" In the Shijing
    Carr, Michael
    Proceedings of the 31st CISHAAN, Tokyo and Kyoto, 1983: 824-825

  • A Systems Approach to the Bimodal, Interactive Nature of Human Consciousness and the Reintegration of the Bicameral Mind Through Education
    Allen, John D.
    Dissertation Abstracts International,1983, June, Vol. 43 (12-A): 3886

  • Auditory Hallucinations of Hearing Voices in 375 Normal Subjects
    Posey, T. B. and Losch, M.
    Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 1983, Vol. 3

  • Somewhere in Earshot: Yates' Admonitory Gods
    Weissman, Judith
    Pequod, 1982, Vol. 14: 16-31

  • Julian Jaynes and the Bicameral Mind: A Case Study in the Sociology of Belief
    Jones, W. T.
    Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1982, June, Vol. 12 (2): 153-171

  • Julian Jaynes and the Ancient Mindgods
    Gliedman, J.
    Science Digest, 1982, April, Vol. 90: 84-87

  • Cerebral Glucography with Positron Tomography: Use In Normal Subjects and In Patients with Schizophrenia
    Buchsbaum, M. S.; Ingvar, D. H.; Kessler, R.; Waters, R. N.; Cappelletti, J.; et al.
    Archives of General Psychiatry, 1982, Vol. 39: 251-259

  • Poe's Longing for a Bicameral Mind
    Skaggs, Merrill Maguire
    The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 1981, Winter, Vol. 19 (2)

  • The Retrieval of Memory in Early Infancy
    Rovee-Collier, Carolyn K. and Fagen, Jeffrey W.
    Advances in Infancy Research, 1981, Vol. 1: 225-254
    Describes a learning analysis approach to the study of infant memory and the research it has inspired. The retrieval of memory and factors that promote retention is focused on, and forgetting as a retrieval failure rather than a memory deficit is discussed. Evidence is provided for a mechanism by which infants demonstrate the cumulative effects of prior experiences and by which early experiences may influence later behavior. It is argued that infants retrieve memories of past events through encounters with contextual cues that were previously noticed. It is demonstrated that manipulation of these cues can alleviate forgetting after quite lengthy retention intervals. Findings challenge interpretations that presume loss of information from storage and confirm the suggestion of B. A. Campbell and J. Jaynes that reinstatement is a potent mechanism by which the effects of early experiences continue to influence behavior after lengthy time periods.

  • The Interpretation of Dreams, the Origin of Consciousness, and the Birth of Tragedy
    Atwan, Robert
    Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, 1981, Vol. 6 (2)
    Discusses J. Jaynes's (1976) hypothesis that the subjective consciousness developed as late as the 1st millennium BC; before then, men and women were bicameral. Their actions were guided by auditory hallucinations activated in the right temporal parietal region of the brain. Jaynes's theory suggests why the ancient idea of the dream as a divine experience followed a distinctly auditory pattern. The shift in dream patterns from the auditory dream of the Homeric period to the visual dreams of 5th-century tragedies approximates the timetable Jaynes proposed for the bicameral mind's breakdown and the evolution of left-hemispheric specialization.

  • The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Book Review)
    Block, N.
    Cognition and Brain Theory, 1981, Vol. 4

  • The Bicameral Mind
    McCandless, Richard L.
    Religious Education, 1980 July-August, Vol. 75 (4): 436-440
    Summarizes the functions of attention, perception, and specialized left and right cerebral hemispheres, suggesting that systematic private prayer and liturgical worship help structure a subjective reality of religious faith.

  • Vision, Madness, and Morality: Poetry and the Theory of the Bicameral Mind
    Weissman, Judith
    The Georgia-Review, 1979, Vol. 33 (1): 118-148

  • The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Book Review)
    Barfield, Owen
    Teachers College Record, 1979, February, 80 (3): 602-604

  • Invisible Playmates
    Pines, M.
    Psychology Today, 1978, 12: 38–42

  • Romanticism, Bicamerality, and the Evolution of the Brain
    Profitt, Edward
    The Wordsworth Circle, 1978, 9: 98–105

  • A Research Note on Becoming What We Do in Career Development
    Tiedeman, David V.
    Vocational Guidance Quarterly,1978, June, Vol. 26 (4): 361–364
    In context of the breakdown of the bicameral mind, evidence is noted suggesting that we lose courage to aspire to higher levels of occupational responsibility during late adolescence as we fail to decide how to use our study time. 68 students completed the Individual Career Exploration (ICE), a classification scheme for occupational preferences that also yields information on occupational responsibility level, and recorded for 1 wk how they used their time. Findings showed that 18 high-responsible Ss spent an average of 16.11 hrs studying, 48 middle-responsible Ss spent 9.38 hrs, and 2 low-responsible Ss spent 5.00 hrs. F-testing showed that these means were significantly different even after low-responsible Ss were omitted from the analysis. Action without self-awareness (e.g., without study-time investment) constitutes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The solution lies in developing conscious "I" power to free individuals to grow.

  • The Evolution of Childhood Reconsidered
    Ebel, Henry.
    Journal of Psychohistory, 1977, Vol. 5 (1): 67–80

  • Laterlized Temporal-Limbic Dysfunction and Psychopathology
    Flor-Henry, P.
    Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1976, 28: 777–795

Articles related to consciousness:

  • On the Intrinsic Nature of States of Consciousness: James's Ubiquitous Feeling Aspect
    Natsoulas, T.
    Review of General Psychology, 1998, Vol. 2 (2): 123–152

Recent studies on hallucinations in normals:

  • Hallucinations Following the Loss of a Spouse: Common and Normal Events Among the Elderly
    Grimby, Agneta
    Journal of Clinical Geropsychology, 1998, Vol. 4 (1): 65–74

  • A Study of Hallucinations in Normal Subjects
    McCreery, C.
    Personality and Individual Differences, 1996, 21 (5), 739–747

  • Auditory and Visual Hallucinations in University Students
    Feelgood, S. R. and Rantzen, A. J.
    Personality and Individual Differences, 1994, Vol. 17 (2): 293–296