Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Neurosciences
We are in the midst of what is being called the 'psychedelic renaissance' with growing interest into how psychedelics alter consciousness, brain function and brain connectivity. The acute, often profound, effects of the psychedelic experience can induce lasting improvements in mental health demonstrating that chemistry forms the basis of mystical experience, consciousness and mental wellbeing.
Software Simulation and Modeling in Psychology: MATLAB, SPSS, Excel and E-Prime describes all the stages of psychology experimentation, from the manipulation of factors, to statistical analysis, data modeling, and automated stimuli creation. The book shows how software can help automate various stages of the experiment for which operations may quickly become repetitive. For example, it shows how to compile data files (instead of opening files one by one to copy and paste), generate stimuli (instead of drawing one by one in a drawing software), and transform and recode tables of data. This type of modeling in psychology helps determine if a model fits the data, and also demonstrates that the algorithmic is not only useful, but essential for modeling data.
Genetic Models and Molecular Pathways Underlying Autism Spectrum Disorders, Volume 241 provides the most recent information on the animal model systems that are available to study different forms of autism spectrum disorders. In addition to genetically engineered animals that uniquely model genetic forms of ASD, this volume also provides detailed chapters on a variety of specific topics, including An overview of genetic models of ASDs, Phenotypic modeling of ASD symptoms, Molecular mechanisms of NF1 model of ASD symptoms, Ube3a gene dosage disorders: molecular and circuit mechanisms of ASD, Circuit dysfunctions in ASD models, ERK signaling in genetic models of ASD, and more.
Imaging in Movement Disorders: Imaging in Atypical Parkinsonism and Familial Movement Disorders, Volume 142, addresses the use of imaging modalities across the spectrum of movement disorders and dementias. Over the last decades, advances in neuroimaging tools have played a pivotal role in expanding our understanding of disease aetiology and pathophysiology, identifying biomarkers to monitor disease progression, aiding differential diagnosis and in the identification of novel targets for therapeutic intervention. This updated volume covers PET Molecular Imaging in Atypical Parkinsonism, SPECT Molecular Imaging in Atypical Parkinsonism, Structural MRI in Atypical Parkinsonism, Functional MRI in Atypical Parkinsonism, and more.
Most brain related activity has focussed on specialized interests
within individual disciplines. Recent multidisciplinary activity
has provided the impetus to break down these boundaries and
encourage a freer exchange of information across disciplines. This
text reflects these developments. It spans the landscape of brain
science to provide core information from 12 disciplines (including
evolution, philosophy, anatomy, chemistry, computer science, brain
dynamics, psychology, neurology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and
brain imaging).
Recent work in cognitive science, much of it placed in opposition
to a computational view of the mind, has argued that the concept of
representation and theories based on that concept are not
sufficient to explain the details of cognitive processing. These
attacks on representation have focused on the importance of context
sensitivity in cognitive processing, on the range of individual
differences in performance, and on the relationship between minds
and the bodies and environments in which they exist. In each case,
models based on traditional assumptions about representation have
been assumed to be too rigid to account for the effects of these
factors on cognitive processing. In place of a representational
view of mind, other formalisms and methodologies, such as nonlinear
differential equations (or dynamical systems) and situated
robotics, have been proposed as better explanatory tools for
understanding cognition.
The Textbook of Ion Channels is a set of three volumes providing a wide-ranging reference source on ion channels for students, instructors, and researchers. Ion channels are membrane proteins that control the electrical properties of neurons and cardiac cells, mediate the detection and response to sensory stimuli like light, sound, odor, and taste, and regulate the response to physical stimuli like temperature and pressure. In non-excitable tissues, ion channels are instrumental for the regulation of basic salt balance that is critical for homeostasis. Ion channels are located at the surface membrane of cells, giving them the unique ability to communicate with the environment, as well as the membrane of intracellular organelles, allowing them to regulate internal homeostasis. Ion channels are fundamentally important for human health and diseases, and are important targets for pharmaceuticals in mental illness, heart disease, anesthesia, pain and other clinical applications. The modern methods used in their study are powerful and diverse, ranging from single ion-channel measurement techniques to models of ion channel diseases in animals, and human clinical trials for ion channel drugs. Volume I, Part 1 covers fundamental topics such as the basic principles of ion permeation and selectivity, voltage-dependent, ligand-dependent and mechano-dependent ion channel activation mechanisms, the mechanisms for ion channel desensitization and inactivation and basic ion channel pharmacology and inhibition. Volume I, Part 2 aims to offer a practical guide of cardinal methods for researching ion channels, including heterologous expression and voltage-clamp and patch-clamp electrophysiology, isolation of native currents using patch-clamp, modelling ion channel gating, structures and its dynamics, crystallography and cryo- electron microscopy, fluorescence and paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy methods and genetics approaches in model organisms. All three volumes give the reader an introduction to fundamental concepts needed to understand the mechanism of ion channels, a guide to the technical aspects of ion channel research, offer a modern guide to the properties of major ion channel families, and include coverage of key examples of regulatory, physiological, and disease roles for ion channels.
The Opioid System as the Brain's Interface between Cognition and Motivation, Volume 239, focuses on the opioid system as the interface between the brain's cognitive and motivational systems. As the opioid system is widely distributed through the brain, particularly in areas implicated in cognition (hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, claustrum, thalamus) and motivation (hypothalamus, amygdala, pontine nuclei, periaqueductal gray and medulla), this book provides chapters that address ongoing research on topics such as the Brain's cognitive system, the Brain's motivational system, Antidepressant prescription patterns, Antidepressant-like effects of opioid receptor modulators, the Behavioral effects of antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs, and more.
Musical Sense-Making: Enaction, Experience, and Computation broadens the scope of musical sense-making from a disembodied cognitivist approach to an experiential approach. Revolving around the definition of music as a temporal and sounding art, it argues for an interactional and experiential approach that brings together the richness of sensory experience and principles of cognitive economy. Starting from the major distinction between in-time and outside-of-time processing of the sounds, this volume provides a conceptual and operational framework for dealing with sounds in a real-time listening situation, relying heavily on the theoretical groundings of ecology, cybernetics, and systems theory, and stressing the role of epistemic interactions with the sounds. These interactions are considered from different perspectives, bringing together insights from previous theoretical groundings and more recent empirical research. The author's findings are framed within the context of the broader field of enactive and embodied cognition, recent action and perception studies, and the emerging field of neurophenomenology and dynamical systems theory. This volume will particularly appeal to scholars and researchers interested in the intersection between music, philosophy, and/or psychology.
A variety of ideas, approaches, and techniques exist -- in terms of
both architecture and learning -- and this abundance seems to lead
to many exciting possibilities in terms of theoretical advances and
application potentials. Despite the apparent diversity, there is
clearly an underlying unifying theme: architectures that bring
together symbolic and connectionist models to achieve a synthesis
and synergy of the two different paradigms, and the learning and
knowledge acquisition methods for developing such architectures.
More effort needs to be extended to exploit the possibilities and
opportunities in this area.
Orienting is the gateway to attention, the first step in processing
stimulus information. This volume examines these initial stages of
information intake, focusing on the sensory and motivational
mechanisms that determine such phenomena as stimulus selection and
inhibition, habituation, pre-attentive processing, and expectancy.
Psychophysiological methods are emphasized throughout. The
contributors consider analyses based on cardiovascular and
electrodermal changes, reflex reactions, and neural events in the
cortex and subcortex.
The current popular and scientific interest in virtual environments has provided a new impetus for investigating binaural and spatial hearing. However, the many intriguing phenomena of spatial hearing have long made it an exciting area of scientific inquiry. Psychophysical and physiological investigations of spatial hearing seem to be converging on common explanations of underlying mechanisms. These understandings have in turn been incorporated into sophisticated yet mathematically tractable models of binaural interaction. Thus, binaural and spatial hearing is one of the few areas in which professionals are soon likely to find adequate physiological explanations of complex psychological phenomena that can be reasonably and usefully approximated by mathematical and physical models. This volume grew out of the Conference on Binaural and Spatial Hearing, a four-day event held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in response to rapid developments in binaural and spatial hearing research and technology. Meant to be more than just a proceedings, it presents chapters that are longer than typical proceedings papers and contain considerably more review material, including extensive bibliographies in many cases. Arranged into topical sections, the chapters represent major thrusts in the recent literature. The authors of the first chapter in each section have been encouraged to take a broad perspective and review the current state of literature. Subsequent chapters in each section tend to be somewhat more narrowly focused, and often emphasize the authors' own work. Thus, each section provides overview, background, and current research on a particular topic. This book is significant in that it reviews the important work during the past 10 to 15 years, and provides greater breadth and depth than most of the previous works.
"Extensively researched. Aguirre writes clearly, concisely, and often cinematically. The book succeeds in providing an accessible yet substantive look at memory science and offering glimpses of the often-challenging process of biomedical investigation."-Science Sometimes, it's not the discovery that's hard - it's convincing others that you're right. The Memory Thief chronicles an investigation into a rare and devastating amnesia first identified in a cluster of fentanyl overdose survivors. When a handful of doctors embark on a quest to find out exactly what happened to these marginalized victims, they encounter indifference and skepticism from the medical establishment. But after many blind alleys and occasional strokes of good luck, they go on to prove that opioids can damage the hippocampus, a tiny brain region responsible for forming new memories. This discovery may have implications for millions of people around the world. Through the prism of this fascinating story, Aguirre recounts the obstacles researchers so often confront when new ideas bump up against conventional wisdom. She explains the elegant tricks scientists use to tease out the fundamental mechanisms of memory. And finally, she reveals why researchers now believe that a treatment for Alzheimer's is within reach.
Bridging the world of reading instruction and applied cognitive neuroscience, this book presents research-backed reading instructional methods and explains how they can be understood through the lens of brain processes. Dispelling myths about neuroscience, Spence and Mitra explore how brain-based research informs literacy research in a way that is clear and accessible to pre-service teachers. Chapters address theories of reading, social emotional learning, phonological processes, embodiment, multilingualism, reading comprehension, and more. Featuring pedagogical strategies and consistent "Did you know?" and "Food for thought" sections, readers will come away with a greater understanding of the reading brain and how neuroscience can facilitate effective instruction. Delving into the extent to which neuroscience can underpin reading research, this text is ideal for pre-service teachers, educators, and students in the fields of language arts and literacy, as well as cognitive neuroscience.
Understanding the mechanisms of learning and memory provides one of the major challenges of contemporary neuroscience. At the reductionist level this equates to an understanding of synaptic plasticity within cortical structures such as the hippocampus. Recently, considerable effort has been devoted to researching two forms of associative synaptic plasticity: long-term potentiation (LTP) and its counterpart, long-term depression (LTD). Increasingly, this field is being influenced by molecular approaches, and Cortical Plasticity brings together the recent findings on all aspects of the induction, maintenance, and expression of LTP and LTD, with an emphasis on molecular mechanisms. This book provides an invaluable overview of a rapidly expanding field and presents discussions from internationally known researchers on a number of controversial issues regarding synaptic plasticity. It will be essential reading for researchers in all areas of neuroscience.
1) Classic anatomical atlases 2) Detailed labeling of the earliest phases of prenatal neurological development 3) Appeals to neuroanatomists, developmental biologists and clinical practitioners. 4) Persistent relevance - brain development is not going to change
Understanding the human mind and how it relates to the world of experience has challenged scientists and philosophers for centuries. How do we even begin to think about 'minds' that are not human? That is the question explored in this ground-breaking book. Award-winning science writer Philip Ball argues that in order to understand our own minds and imagine those of others, we need to move on from considering the human mind as a standard against which all others should be measured. Science has begun to have something to say about the properties of mind; the more we learn about the minds of other creatures, from octopuses to chimpanzees, to imagine the potential minds of computers and alien intelligences, the more we can begin to see our own, and the more we can understand the diversity of the human mind, in the widest of contexts. By understanding how minds differ, we can also best understand our own.
This volume is based on a conference held to examine what is known
about cognitive behaviors and brain structure and function in three
syndromes and to evaluate the usefulness of such models. The goal
of this endeavor is to add to the knowledge base of cognitive
neuroscience within a developmental framework. Most of what is
known about the neurological basis of cognitive function in humans
has been learned from studies of central nervous system trauma or
disease in adults. Certain neurodevelopmental disorders affect the
central nervous system in unique ways by producing specific as
opposed to generalized cognitive deficit. Studies of these
disorders using neurobiological and behavioral techniques can yield
new insights into the localization of cognitive function and the
developmental course of atypical cognitive profiles.
Since the publication of the original edition in 1982,
pesticide-related poisonings, both single cases and epidemic-scale
situations, have continued to occur unabated. This new edition of
Pesticides and Neurological Diseases reviews current literature
describing the effects of insecticides (chlorinated hydrocarbons,
organophosphorus and carbamate esters, and the pyrethroid esters),
fungicides (organomercurials, dithiocarbamates), and herbicides
(chlorophenoxy acids and esters) on the mammalian nervous system.
Acute and chronic exposures have resulted in both subtle and
serious neurological deficits in the peripheral and central nervous
systems, marked by transient effects preceding those of delayed
onset and of persistent duration. The chapters have been largely
revised and rewritten to introduce newer theories of mechanism(s)
of action studied at the laboratory bench. New findings and
observations on human intoxications are included as well.
With the single-nerve fiber action potential recording method and the single-motor unit electromyography, the functioning of the human central nervous system (CNS) is analysed at the single-neuron level under physiologic conditions following injury, malformation and degeneration. It is shown that the self-organisation of the neuronal networks of the human CNS by phase and frequency coordination becomes impaired following all nervous system diseases. Out of the differences between the functioning of the healthy and pathologically functioning CNS, a repair treatment is developed called Co-ordination Dynamics Therapy (CDT). This movement-based learning therapy is able to improve almost every nervous system in its functioning by functional and structural repair for all ages including premature born babies and in aging. The therapy progress with CDT can be quantified by using the System Theory of Pattern Formation. By pattern change, given by a special CDT device, a single value is obtained for the quality of CNS functioning. Especially the tremor in Parkinson's disease and the urinary bladder repair in spinal cord injury are analysed in detail by the human neurophysiologic recording methods and clinical assessments. The repair of the human nervous system is shown in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in mild and severe traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. By applying CDT, CNS functioning can also be improved in Parkinson's disease and in aging. The rate of improvement/repair by learning is measured in the healthy and the diseased nervous systems. It is emphasised that the efficacy of movement-based learning therapies may differ by a factor of 100. A powerful tool in learning is the learning transfer. By training integrative movements, including automatisms, not only the trained movements can be improved, but also the vegetative and higher mental functions can be repaired as, for example, continence, speech and cardiovascular performance.
This volume provides current methods to analyze the properties of designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) in vitro and to measure the biological responses of DREADD activation in different neuronal populations in vivo. Chapters focus on the utility of DREADD technology to selectively stimulate or inhibit neuronal activity in selected brain areas of transgenic mice. In addition, the successful use of DREADD expression in rats and Drosophila is described. Together, the DREADD technology represents a non-invasive, chemical-genetic tool for investigating neuronal signaling and the resulting behavioural responses in vivo. Written in the popular Neuromethods series style, chapters include the kind of detail and key advice from the specialists needed to get successful results in your own laboratory. Concise and easy-to-use, Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.
A pioneering text in its first edition, this revised publication of Cognitive Poetics offers a rigorous and principled approach to literary reading and analysis. The second edition of this seminal text features: * updated theory, frameworks, and examples throughout, including new explanations of literary meaning, the power of reading, literary force, and emotion; * extended examples of literary texts from Old English to contemporary literature, covering genres including religious, realist, romantic, science fictional, and surrealist texts, and encompassing poetry, prose, and drama; * new chapters on the mind-modelling of character, the building of text-worlds, the feeling of immersion and ambience, and the resonant power of emotion in literature; * fully updated and accessible accounts of Cognitive Grammar, deictic shifts, prototypicality, conceptual framing, and metaphor in literary reading. Encouraging the reader to adopt a fresh approach to understanding literature and literary analyses, each chapter introduces a different framework within cognitive poetics and relates it to a literary text. Accessibly written and reader-focused, the book invites further explorations either individually or within a classroom setting. This thoroughly revised edition of Cognitive Poetics includes an expanded further reading section and updated explorations and discussion points, making it essential reading for students on literary theory and stylistics courses, as well as a fundamental tool for those studying critical theory, linguistics, and literary studies.
'Sarma's book may be the most important work on education written this century' - Skeptic As the head of Open Learning at MIT, Sanjay Sarma has a daunting job description: to fling open the doors of the MIT experience for the benefit of the wider world. But if you're going to undertake such an ambitious project, you must first ask: How exactly does learning work? What conditions are most conducive? Are our traditional classroom methods - lecture, homework, test, repeat - actually effective? And if not, which techniques are? Grasp takes readers across multiple frontiers, from fundamental neuroscience to cognitive psychology and beyond, as it explores the future of learning. For instance: · Scientists are studying the role of forgetting, exposing it not as a simple failure of memory but a critical weapon in our learning arsenal · New developments in neuroimaging are helping us understand how reading works in the brain. It's become possible to identify children who might benefit from specialised dyslexia interventions - before they learn to read · Many schools have begun converting to flipped classrooms, in which you watch a lesson at home, then do your 'homework' in class Along the way, Sarma debunks long-held views such as the noxious idea of 'learning styles,' while equipping readers with a set of practical tools for absorbing and retaining information across a lifetime of learning. He presents a vision for learning that's more inclusive and democratic - revealing a world bursting with powerful learners, just waiting for the chance they deserve. Drawing from the author's experience as an educator and the work of researchers and educational innovators at MIT and beyond, Grasp offers scientific and practical insight, promising not just to inform and entertain readers but to open their minds.
* Provides very accessible coverage of a complex topic. * Includes a wealth of open-ended activities, practical strategies and case studies. * Blends together theory and practice to increase the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence of early years practitioners. * Covers a range of hot topics, considering how poverty, adversity, and mental health, all affect the developing child. |
You may like...
How Your Brain Is Wired - An Owner's…
Crawford Hollingworth, Cathy Tomlinson
Paperback
R393
Discovery Miles 3 930
|