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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Neurosciences
Why do people find monkeys and apes so compelling to watch? One clear answer is that they seem so similar to us-a window into our own minds and how we have evolved over millennia. As Charles Darwin wrote in his Notebook, "He who understands baboon would do more toward metaphysics than Locke." Darwin recognized that behavior and cognition, and the neural architecture that support them, evolved to solve specific social and ecological problems. Defining these problems for neurobiological study, and conveying neurobiological results to ethologists and psychologists, is fundamental to an evolutionary understanding of brain and behavior. The goal of this book is to do just that. It collects, for the first time in a single book, information on primate behavior and cognition, neurobiology, and the emerging discipline of neuroethology. Here leading scientists in several fields review work ranging from primate foraging behavior to the neurophysiology of motor control, from vocal communication to the functions of the auditory cortex. The resulting synthesis of cognitive, ethological, and neurobiological approaches to primate behavior yields a richer understanding of our primate cousins that also sheds light on the evolutionary development of human behavior and cognition.
The senses can be powerful triggers for memories of our past,
eliciting a range of both positive and negative emotions. The smell
or taste of a long forgotten sweet can stimulate a rich emotional
response connected to our childhood, or a piece of music transport
us back to our adolescence. Sense memories can be linked to all the
senses - sound, vision, and even touch can also trigger intense and
emotional memories of our past.
In the last fifteen years, there has been significant interest in studying the brain structures involved in moral judgments using novel techniques from neuroscience such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Many people, including a number of philosophers, believe that results from neuroscience have the potential to settle seemingly intractable debates concerning the nature, practice, and reliability of moral judgments. This has led to a flurry of scientific and philosophical activities, resulting in the rapid growth of the new field of moral neuroscience. There is now a vast array of ongoing scientific research devoted towards understanding the neural correlates of moral judgments, accompanied by a large philosophical literature aimed at interpreting and examining the methodology and the results of this research. This is the first volume to take stock of fifteen years of research of this fast-growing field of moral neuroscience and to recommend future directions for research. It features the most up-to-date research in this area, and it presents a wide variety of perspectives on this topic.
Although we no longer live in the relative simplicity of the
Jurassic age, and even though we are not aware of them, primitive
mammalian brain that developed in that era still live on inside our
skulls and remain crucial to our daily functions. The challenges we
face today in the information age--how to process the vastly
greater, more varied and quickly changing inputs we receive--are
very different from those that our ancestors faced during the
Jurassic age. As we struggle to process overwhelming amounts of
information, we may sometimes ask whether our brains can change to
help us adapt. In fact, our brains have always changed gradually,
so the questions we should ask are really how our brains will
change, and whether we will be able to take full advantage of the
changes, perhaps even enhance them, to help us keep up with the
accelerating evolution of machines. To understand how our brains
will change, we need to understand how they evolved in the first
place, as well as how the interactions of the resulting brain
structures, including the relics of primitive mammalian and even
reptilian processes, influence how we think and act.
This textbook provides a thorough and comprehensive overview of the
human brain and spinal cord for medical and graduate students as
well as residents in the clinical neurosciences. Standing on the
shoulders of training from outstanding scientist-teacher mentors
and based on more than 30 years of experience teaching about the
brain and spinal cord to medical and graduate students, this single
authored text presents everything the reader would need as they
begin their study of the nervous system. At the same time the
experienced neuroscientist will find much useful and valuable
information in these pages that is based almost exclusively on
studies in experimental primates and observations in humans. Every
effort has been made to present the complexities of the nervous
system as simply and clearly as possible. The careful reader will
discover a clarity and depth of coverage that makes the reading
both instructional and enjoyable. Topics are presented logically
and the text in an easy-to-read style. The accompanying line
drawings emphasize important concepts in a clear and uncluttered
manner.
Cognitive psychology has matured and flourished in the last half-century, as new theories, research tools, and theoretical frameworks have allowed cognitive psychologists and researchers to explore a broad array of topics. In the same vein, the depth of understanding and the methodological and theoretical sophistication have also grown in wonderful ways. Given the expanse of the field, an up-to-date and inclusive resource such as this handbook is needed for aspiring generalists who wish to read the book cover to cover, and for the many readers who are simply curious to know the current happenings in other cognition laboratories. Guided by this need, this volume's 64 chapters cover all aspects of cognition, spanning perceptual issues, attention, memory, knowledge representation, language, emotional influences, judgment, problem solving, and the study of individual differences in cognition. Additional chapters turn to the control of complex actions and the social, cultural, and developmental context of cognition. The authors include a mix of well-established influential figures and younger colleagues in order to gain an understanding of the field's forward trajectory. The volume also includes a mix of "tutorial" chapters and chapters that powerfully represent a particular research team's point of view.
Many people believe that pleasure and desire are obstacles to reasonable and intelligent behavior. In The Pleasure Center, Morten Kringelbach reveals that what we desire, what pleases us--in fact, our most base, animalistic tendencies--are actually very important sources of information. They motivate us for a good reason. And understanding that reason, taking that reason into account, and harnessing and directing that reason, can make us much more rational and effective people. In exploring the many facets of pleasure, desire and emotion, Kringelbach takes us through the whole spectrum of human experience, such as how emotion fuels our interest in things, allowing us to pay attention and learn. He investigates the reward systems of the brain and sheds light on some of the most interesting new discoveries about pleasure and desire. Kringelbach concludes that if we understand and accept how pleasure and desire arise in the complex interaction between the brain's activity and our own experiences, we can discover what helps us enjoy life, enabling us to make better decisions and, ultimately, lead happier lives.
Galvani's Spark chronicles the gradual understanding of the nerve
impulse which is the basis of all thoughts, sensations and actions.
The story begins with Luigi Galvani's chance observation of a spark
from a friction machine causing a frog's leg to twitch from across
the room. The accurate recording and the understanding of the
properties of the nerve fiber membrane that makes the impulse
possible became the objectives of neuroscientists for over 200
years.
Recent years have seen the rise of a remarkable partnership between
the social and computational sciences on the phenomena of emotions.
Rallying around the term Affective Computing, this research can be
seen as revival of the cognitive science revolution, albeit garbed
in the cloak of affect, rather than cognition. Traditional
cognitive science research, to the extent it considered emotion at
all, cases it as at best a heuristic but more commonly a harmful
bias to cognition. More recent scholarship in the social sciences
has upended this view.
Our ability to map and intervene in the structure of the human
brain is proceeding at a very quick rate. Advances in psychiatry,
neurology, and neurosurgery have given us fresh insights into the
neurobiological basis of human thought and behavior. Technologies
like MRI and PET scans can detect early signs of psychiatric
disorders before they manifest symptoms. Electrical and magnetic
stimulation of the brain can non-invasively relieve symptoms of
obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and other conditions
resistant to treatment, while implanting neuro-electrodes can help
patients with Parkinsons and other motor control-related diseases.
New drugs can help regenerate neuronal connections otherwise
disrupted by schizophrenia and similar diseases.
In The Intelligent Movement Machine: An Ethological Perspective on the Primate Motor System, Michael Graziano offers a fundamentally new theory of motor cortex organization: the rendering of the movement repertoire onto the cortex. The action repertoire of an animal is highly dimensional, whereas the cortical sheet is two-dimensional. Rendering the action space onto the cortex therefore results in a complex pattern, explaining the otherwise inexplicable details of the motor cortex organization. This clearly written book book includes a complete history of motor cortex research from its discovery to the present, a discussion of the major issues in motor cortex research, and an account of recent experiments that led to Graziano's "action map" view. Though focused on the motor cortex, the book includes a range of topics from an explanation of how primates put food in their mouths, to the origins of social beahvior such as smiling and laughing, to the mysterious link between movement disorders and autism. This book is written for a general audience, and should be of interest to experts, students, and the scientific lay.
This practical book provides the detailed methodology and expert
guidance required for measuring and manipulating cytosolic ion
concentrations. In addition, the strengths, weaknesses, and
pitfalls of various techniques are presented. It is an invaluable
source for those needing an objective evaluation of current
methodologies and for those contemplating setting up such
procedures.
Ethicists and psychologists have become increasingly interested in the development of virtue in recent years, approaching the topic from the perspectives of virtue ethics and developmental psychology respectively. Such interest in virtue development has spread beyond academia, as teachers and parents have increasingly striven to cultivate virtue as part of education and child-rearing. Looking at these parallel trends in the study and practice of virtue development, the essays in this volume explore such questions as: How can philosophical work on virtue development inform psychological work on it, and vice versa? How should we understand virtue as a dimension of human personality? What is the developmental foundation of virtue? What are the evolutionary aspects of virtue and its development? How is virtue fostered? How is virtue exemplified in behavior and action? How is our conception of virtue influenced by context and by developmental and social experiences? What are the tensions, impediments and prospects for an integrative field of virtue study? Rather than centering on each discipline, the essays in this volume are orgnaized around themes and engage each other in a broader dialogue. The volume begins with an introductory essay from the editors that explains the full range of philosophical and empirical issues that have surrounded the notion of virtue in recent years.
In this book, Chris Eliasmith presents a new approach to understanding the neural implementation of cognition in a way that is centrally driven by biological considerations. He calls the general architecture that results from the application of this approach the Semantic Pointer Architecture (SPA), based on the Semantic Pointer Hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, higher-level cognitive functions in biological systems are made possible by semantic pointers. These pointers are neural representations that carry partial semantic content and can be built up into the complex representational structures necessary to support cognition. The SPA architecture demonstrates how neural systems generate, compose, and control the flow of semantics pointers. Eliasmith describes in detail the theory and empirical evidence supporting the SPA, and presents several examples of its application to cognitive modeling, covering the generation of semantic pointers from visual data, the application of semantic pointers for motor control, and most important, the use of semantic pointers for representation of language-like structures, cognitive control, syntactic generalization, learning of new cognitive strategies, and language-based reasoning. He agues that the SPA provides an alternative to the dominant paradigms in cognitive science, including symbolicism, connectionism, and dynamicism.
Rethinking Thought takes readers into the minds of 30 creative thinkers to show how greatly the experience of thought can vary. It is dedicated to anyone who has ever been told, "You're not thinking!", because his or her way of thinking differs so much from a spouse's, employer's, or teacher's. The book focuses on individual experiences with visual mental images and verbal language that are used in planning, problem-solving, reflecting, remembering, and forging new ideas. It approaches the question of what thinking is by analyzing variations in the way thinking feels. Written by neuroscientist-turned-literary scholar Laura Otis, Rethinking Thought juxtaposes creative thinkers' insights with recent neuroscientific discoveries about visual mental imagery, verbal language, and thought. Presenting the results of new, interview-based research, it offers verbal portraits of novelist Salman Rushdie, engineer Temple Grandin, American Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, and Nobel prize-winning biologist Elizabeth Blackburn. It also depicts the unique mental worlds of two award-winning painters, a flamenco dancer, a game designer, a cartoonist, a lawyer-novelist, a theoretical physicist, and a creator of multi-agent software. Treating scientists and artists with equal respect, it creates a dialogue in which neuroscientific findings and the introspections of creative thinkers engage each other as equal partners. The interviews presented in this book indicate that many creative people enter fields requiring skills that don't come naturally. Instead, they choose professions that demand the hardest work and the greatest mental growth. Instead of classifying people as "visual" or "verbal," educators and managers need to consider how thinkers combine visual and verbal skills and how those abilities can be further developed. By showing how greatly individual experiences of thought can vary, this book aims to help readers in all professions better understand and respect the diverse people with whom they work.
For modern scientists, history often starts with last week's
journals and is regarded as largely a quaint interest compared with
the advances of today. However, this book makes the case that,
measured by major advances, the greatest decade in the history of
brain studies was mid-twentieth century, especially the 1950s. The
first to focus on worldwide contributions in this period, the book
ranges through dozens of astonishing discoveries at all levels of
the brain, from DNA (Watson and Crick), through growth factors
(Hamburger and Levi-Montalcini), excitability (Hodgkin and Huxley),
synapses (Katz and Eccles), dopamine and Parkinson's (Carlsson),
visual processing (Hartline and Kuffler), the cortical column
(Mountcastle), reticular activating system (Morruzzi and Magoun)
and REM sleep (Aserinsky), to stress (Selye), learning (Hebb) and
memory (HM and Milner). The clinical fields are also covered, from
Cushing and Penfield, psychosurgery and brain energy metabolism
(Kety), to most of the major psychoactive drugs in use today
(beginning with Delay and Deniker), and much more.
This Handbook examines disparities in public health by highlighting recent theoretical and methodological advances in cultural neuroscience. It traces the interactions of cultural, biological, and environmental factors that create adverse physical and mental health conditions among populations, and investigates how the policies of cultural and governmental institutions influence such outcomes. In addition to providing an overview of the current research, chapters demonstrate how a cultural neuroscience approach to the study of the mind, brain, and behavior can help stabilize the quality of health of societies at large. The volume will appeal especially to graduate students and professional scholars working in psychology and population genetics. The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience represents the first collection of scholarly contributions from the International Cultural Neuroscience Consortium (ICNC), an interdisciplinary group of scholars from epidemiology, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, genetics, and psychiatry dedicated to advancing an understanding of culture and health using theory and methods from cultural neuroscience. The Handbook is intended to introduce future generations of scholars to foundations in cultural neuroscience, and to equip them to address the grand challenges in global mental health in the twenty-first century.
The science of autism has seen tremendous breakthroughs in the past few decades. A multitude of relatively rare mutations have been identified to explain around 15 % of autism cases with many of these genetic causes systematically examined in animal models. This marriage of human genetics and basic neurobiology has led to major advances in our understanding of how these genetic mutations alter brain function and help to better understand the human disease. These scientific approaches are leading to the identification of potential therapeutic targets for autism that can be tested in the very same genetic models and hopefully translated into novel, rational therapies. The Autisms: Molecules to Model Systems provides a roadmap to many of these genetic causes of autism and clarifies what is known at the molecular, cellular, and circuit levels. Focusing on tractable genetic findings in human autism and painstakingly dissecting the underlying neurobiology, the book explains, is the key to understanding the pathophysiology of autism and ultimately to identifying novel treatments.
Studies of insect nervous systems have made an immense contribution to our understanding of how a brain works and the way that the connections between constituent neurons are formed during development, For the first time these studies are brought together in The neurobiology of an insect brain, a personal account by a leading experimental neurobiologist and zoologist. By concentrating largely on one insect, the locust, this book unravels the mechanisms by which a brain integrates the vast array of sensory information to generate appropriate movements and behaviour. It first describes the basic structure of an insect brain and how this complex structure is formed during embryonic development. The cellular properties of the different types of neurons, and the way they are altered by neurosecretions are then analysed with respect to the integrative actions of these neurons during behaviour. Finally, the various movements that an insect performs are investigated at the cellular level to illustrate particular features of the integrative processing. Throughout, the book emphasises how knowledge of these simpler nervous systems contributes to our understanding of more complex brains, and at the same time provides the functional synthesis into which future molecular and computational studies can be woven. The neurobiology of an insect brain is an important milestone in our search for unifying principles of brain organisation and will be essential reading for students and research workers in neurobiology, behaviour, and entomology. our understanding
The study of attention is central to psychology. In this work, Michael Posner, a pioneer in attention research, presents the science of attention in a larger social context, which includes our ability to voluntarily choose and act upon an object of thought. The volume is based on fifty years of research involving behavioral, imaging, developmental, and genetic methods. It describes three brain networks of attention that carry out the functions of obtaining and maintaining the alert state, orienting to sensory events, and regulating responses. The book ties these brain networks to anatomy, connectivity, development, and socialization and includes material on pathologies that involve attentional networks, as well as their role in education and social interaction.
It is well known that the class of steroid hormones known as estrogens have powerful effects on organs related to reproduction such as the uterus and the breast. What is less well known is that estrogens also profoundly modulate brain function and behavior. Estrogens, such as estradiol, can occur in brain as the result of ovarian secretion of the hormone into the blood that then finds its way to the brain. In male vertebrates, the testes secrete androgens, such as testosterone, into the blood and this class of steroid hormones can be converted into estrogens in the brain via the action of the enzyme aromatase which is expressed in the male brain in many species. Finally estradiol can be synthesized de novo from cholesterol as it has been shown in a variety of species that all the enzymes required to synthesize estrogens are expressed in the brain. This book collects chapters by experts in the field that considers, how estradiol is synthesized in the brain and what its effects are on a variety of behaviors. Special attention is paid to the enzyme aromatase that is distributed in discrete regions of the brain and is highly regulated in a sex specific and seasonal specific manner. Recently it has become clear that estrogens can act in the brain at two very different time scales, one is rather long lasting (days to weeks) and involves the modulation of gene transcription by the hormone-receptor complex. A second mode of action is much quicker and involves the action of estrogens on cell membranes that can result in effects on second messenger systems and ultimately behavior within minutes. Thus this book highlights novel views of estrogen action that are still under-appreciated namely that estrogens have significant effects on the male brain and that they can act on two very different times scales. This volume will be of interest to both basic researchers and clinicians interested in the action of estrogens.
This book is about pleasure. It's also about pain. Most important, it's about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting... The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we've all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption. In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.
Largely through trial and error, filmmakers have developed engaging techniques that capture our sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Philosophers and film theorists have thought deeply about the nature and impact of these techniques, yet few scientists have delved into empirical analyses of our movie experience-or what Arthur P. Shimamura has coined "psychocinematics." This edited volume introduces this exciting field by bringing together film theorists, philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists to consider the viability of a scientific approach to our movie experience.
Eye movements are a vital part of our interaction with the world. They play a pivotal role in perception, cognition, and education. Research in this field is now proceeding at a considerable pace and casting new light on how the eyes move and what information we can derive during the frequent and brief periods of fixation. However, the origins of this work are less well known, even though much of our knowledge was derived from this research with far more primitive equipment. This book is unique in tracing the history of eye movement research. It shows how great strides were made in this area before modern recording devices were available, especially in the measurement of nystagmus. When photographic techniques were adapted to measure discontinuous eye movements, from about 1900, many of the issues that are now basic to modern research were then investigated. One of the earliest cognitive tasks examined was reading, and it remains in the vanguard of contemporary research. Modern researchers in this field will be astonished at the subtleties of these early experimental studies and the ingenuity of interpretations that were advanced one and even two centuries ago. Though physicians often carried out the original eye movement research, later on it was pursued by psychologists - it is within contemporary neuroscience that we find these two strands reunited. Anyone interested in the origins of psychology and neuroscience will find much to stimulate and surprise them in this valuable new work.
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