Thinking is one of the most fascinating and characteristic abilities of human beings. To advance our understanding of this distinctive feature that makes us human is not only an exciting scientific challenge but also of great relevance in terms of coping with more and more complex challenges of the world we live in and in terms of becoming the core value creation process in an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

"Thinking is one of the most fascinating and characteristic abilities of human beings. To advance our understanding of this distinctive feature that makes us human is not only an exciting scientific challenge but also of great relevance in terms of coping with more and more complex challenges of the world we live in and in terms of becoming the core value creation process in an increasingly knowledge-based economy.The present book is the second volume of the Parmenides book series "On Thinking" dedicated to explore current approaches and contributions towards a fuller understanding of human thought processes.It focuses on assembling building blocks for a conceptual framework that might - after several iterations - contribute to a future theory of thinking. It brings together an international group of leading scientists coming from the different fields upon which a theory of thinking must build: brain and cognitive sciences, experimental and developmental psychology, evolutionary anthropology and biology, linguistics, transcultural neuroimaging, modeling and philosophy."

Perspectives on Thinking.- Problem Solving.- Heuristic Bias, Conflict, and Rationality in Decision-Making.- Analogical Processes in Human Thinking and Learning.- A Gestalt Perspective on the Psychology of Thinking.- Thought and Reality.- Components of Thinking.- Categorization and Object Shape.- Comparison.- Causal Thinking.- Conditionals: Their Meaning and Their use in Reasoning.- Thinking and Memory.- Perception and the Brain.- Onto- and Phylogenetic Considerations.- A Developmental Perspective on Modularity.- Theory of Mind.- The Development of Metacognitive Competences.- Understanding Apes to Understand Humans: The Case of Object-Object Relations.- Language, Emotion, Culture.- Socializing Cognition.- Thinking and Language.- Thinking and Emotion: Affective Modulation of Cognitive Processing Modes.- Cultural Differences in Thinking Styles.- Modeling and Neurobiological Aspects.- Natural Selection in the Brain.- Value and Self-Referential Control: Necessary Ingredients for the Autonomous Development of Flexible Intelligence.- Cortical Connectivity: The Infrastructure of Thoughts.- Models as Tools to Aid Thinking.