Drawing on shared research experiences and collaborative projects, this book offers a broad and timely perspective on research on the hand and its current challenges. It especially emphasizes the interdisciplinary context in which researchers need to be trained in contemporary science. From language to psychology, from neurology to the social sciences, and from art to philosophy and religion, the chapters discuss various aspects involved in hand research and therapy. On the basis of concrete and validated case studies, they approach hand function and gestures from different perspectives - not only neurological and medical, but also philosophical, evolutionary and anthropological. By highlighting the overlaps between different areas of research, the book seeks to foster better communication between researchers, and ultimately a better understanding of hand function and its recovery. It offers essential information and inspirations for students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of psychology, epistemology, bioengineering, neuroscience, anthropology and bioethics.

Using historical and anthropological perspectives to examine mind-body relationships in western thought, this book interweaves topics that are usually disconnected to tell a big, important story in the histories of medicine, science, philosophy, religion, and political rhetoric. Beginning with early debates during the Scientific Revolution about representation and reality, Martensen demonstrates how investigators such as Vesalius and Harvey sought to transform long-standing notions of the body as dominated by spirit-like humors into portrayals that emphasized its solid tissues. Subsequently, Descartes and Willis and their followers amended this 'new' philosophy to argue for the primacy of the cerebral hemispheres and cranial nerves as they downplayed the role of the spirit, passion, and the heart in human thought and behaviour. None of this occurred in a social vacuum, and the book places these medical and philosophical innovations in the context of the religious and political crises of the Reformation and English Civil War and its aftermath. Patrons and their interests are part of the story, as are patients and new formulations of gender. John Locke's psychology and the emergence in England of a constitutional monarchy figure prominently, as do opponents of the new doctrines of brain and nerves and the emergent social order. The book's concluding chapter discusses how debates over investigative methods and models of body order that first raged over 300 years ago continue to influence biomedicine and the broader culture today. No other book on western mind-body relationships has attempted this.

Insect Hearing provides a broadly based view of the functions, mechanisms, and evolution of hearing in insects. With a single exception, the chapters focus on problems of hearing and their solutions, rather than being focused on particular taxa. The exception, hearing in Drosophila, is justified because, due to its ever growing toolbox of genetic and optical techniques, Drosophila is rapidly becoming one of the most important model systems in neurobiology, including the neurobiology of hearing. Auditory systems, whether insectan or vertebrate, must perform a number of basic tasks: capturing mechanical stimuli and transducing these into neural activity, representing the timing and frequency of sound signals, distinguishing between behaviorally relevant signals and other sounds and localizing sound sources. Studying how these are accomplished in insects offers a valuable comparative view that helps to reveal general principles of auditory function.

This book is the first to summarize the progress of research on neural functions of the the delta opioid receptor (DOR) to date. This receptor, a member of the opioid receptor family, was traditionally thought to be primarily involved in pain modulation. Recent new findings have shown its unique role in neuroprotection and many other functions. Many scientists from a number of independent laboratories have now confirmed that DOR can provide neuroprotection against hypoxic/ischemic injuries. They have also found that it plays a role in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological events such as hypoxic encephalopathy, epilepsy, acupuncture, Parkinson's disease, etc. by regulating ionic homeostasis, glutamate transportation and signaling, and balancing intracellular survival/death signals. The book will provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of DOR research and provide a blueprint for future directions.

This book offers a timely overview of theories and methods developed by an authoritative group of researchers to understand the link between criticality and brain functioning. Cortical information processing in particular and brain function in general rely heavily on the collective dynamics of neurons and networks distributed over many brain areas. A key concept for characterizing and understanding brain dynamics is the idea that networks operate near a critical state, which offers several potential benefits for computation and information processing. However, there is still a large gap between research on criticality and understanding brain function. For example, cortical networks are not homogeneous but highly structured, they are not in a state of spontaneous activation but strongly driven by changing external stimuli, and they process information with respect to behavioral goals. So far the questions relating to how critical dynamics may support computation in this complex setting, and whether they can outperform other information processing schemes remain open. Based on the workshop "Dynamical Network States, Criticality and Cortical Function", held in March 2017 at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies (HWK) in Delmenhorst, Germany, the book provides readers with extensive information on these topics, as well as tools and ideas to answer the above-mentioned questions. It is meant for physicists, computational and systems neuroscientists, and biologists.

Our visual system can process information at both conscious and unconscious levels. Understanding the factors that control whether a stimulus reaches our awareness, and the fate of those stimuli that remain at an unconscious level, are the major challenges of brain science in the new millennium. Since its publication in 1984, Visual Masking has established itself as a classic text in the field of cognitive psychology. In the years since, there have been considerable advances in the cognitive neurosciences, and a growth of interest in the topic of consciousness, and the time is ripe for a new edition of this text. Where most current approaches to the study of visual consciousness adopt a 'steady-state' view, the approach presented in this book explores its dynamic properties. This new edition uses the technique of visual masking to explore temporal aspects of conscious and unconscious processes down to a resolution in the millisecond range. The 'time slices' through conscious and unconscious vision revealed by the visual masking technique can shed light on both normal and abnormal operations in the brain. The main focus of this book is on the microgenesis of visual form and pattern perception - microgenesis referring to the processes occurring in the visual system from the time of stimulus presentation on the retinae to the time, a few hundred milliseconds later, of its registration at conscious or unconscious perceptual and behavioural levels. The book takes a highly integrative approach by presenting microgenesis within a broad context encompassing visuo-temporal phenomena, attention, and consciousness.

Presents a comprehensive review of nonhuman primate audition and vocal communication. These are obviously intimately related topics, but are often addressed separately. The hearing abilities of primates have been tested experimentally in a large number of species across the primate order, and these studies have revealed both consistent patterns as well as interesting variation within and between taxonomic groups. Recent studies have shed light on how variation in anatomical structures along the auditory pathway relates to variation in auditory sensitivity. At the same time, ongoing studies of vocal communication in wild primate populations continue to reveal new insights into the social and environmental contexts of many primate calls, and the range of known primate vocalizations has increased dramatically with the development of more sophisticated and accessible auditory equipment and software that enables the recording and analysis of higher-fidelity and broader-band recordings, including documenting very high frequency (i.e. ultrasound) vocalizations. Historically the relative importance of primate calls has been evaluated qualitatively by the perception of the researcher, but new methods and approaches now enable a greater appreciation for how signals are used and perceived by the primates in question. The integration of anatomical and behavioral data on acoustic communication and the environmental correlates thereof has significant potential for reconstructing behavior in the fossil record. This confluence of factors and accumulating evidence for the sophistication and complexity in both the signal and its interpretation indicate that a book synthesizing this information across primates is warranted and represents an important contribution to the literature.

This book shows how to develop efficient quantitative methods to characterize neural data and extra information that reveals underlying dynamics and neurophysiological mechanisms. Written by active experts in the field, it contains an exchange of innovative ideas among researchers at both computational and experimental ends, as well as those at the interface. Authors discuss research challenges and new directions in emerging areas with two goals in mind: to collect recent advances in statistics, signal processing, modeling, and control methods in neuroscience; and to welcome and foster innovative or cross-disciplinary ideas along this line of research and discuss important research issues in neural data analysis. Making use of both tutorial and review materials, this book is written for neural, electrical, and biomedical engineers; computational neuroscientists; statisticians; computer scientists; and clinical engineers.

This book will provide current understandings about two ubiquitously expressed metabotropic GPCRs, G-coupled purinoreceptor type 2 (P2Y) and Takeda G-protein-coupled bile acid receptor 5 (TGR5). G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of proteins implicated in majority of cellular responses. The two receptor sub-families play a central role in many physiological functions as well as in many pathological conditions. This book offers up-to-date information on the physiological functions, signaling pathways and regulatory mechanisms of P2Y and TGR5 receptors. In addition, this book provides a comprehensive overview about the abnormalities of P2Y/TGR5 receptors and their contribution in the development and progression of pathological conditions. It also covers the currently available natural, chemical and pharmacological agents targeting these two receptor families and their therapeutic implications in P2Y and TGR5 associated disorders. This book is a valuable source for beginners and researchers to follow the rapidly progressing field of these two GPCR subfamily members.

In this provocative text, a noted neuroscientist reexamines Freud's posthumously published Project of Scientific Psychology in the light of modern neuroscience. This expanded "thermodynamics of the mind" model includes robust conceptions of the cellular and neural processes that accompany creation of consciousness and memory, their contributions to such conditions as depression, dissociative disorders, and schizophrenia, and implications for practice, from imaging to talk-based therapies to pharmacotherapy. Central to this construct is Freud's proposal of specific "omega" neurons as the most volatile carriers of consciousness between mind and brain, which is applied to current issues regarding complexity and executive functioning. In addition, the book is extensively referenced, allowing readers to investigate these and related phenomena in greater detail. Among the topics covered: Neural reductionism in Freud's "Project" and neuropsychoanalysis. Thermodynamics and brain self-organization. Conflicting information and the dissociated mind. The Cartesian model of the mind and the binding problem. Neuroendocrine and immune response to stress. The concept of omega neurons and modern chaos theory. Rigorous, challenging, and occasionally startling, The Brain and Conscious Unity is a milestone in the neuroscience and mind/brain literature to be read and discussed by psychiatrists, psychologists, and neuropsychologists.

Focusing on two central themes--the psychobiological evolution from youth to adult and the effects of drugs on the developing central nervous system--this important reference elucidates the mechanisms of chemical dependency in adolescents. Its multidisciplinary coverage analyzes addiction across major domains of human functioning against the backdrop of hormonal, cognitive, and other changes that accompany the transition to adulthood. Chapters discuss legal as well as illicit drugs, examine age-related social contexts, and present the latest findings on links between drug use and mental disorders. Throughout, the contributors make clear that education is more valuable to understanding--and preventing--substance abuse than are prohibition and zero-tolerance thinking. Included among the topics: Cognitive development, learning, and drug use. Neurobiology of the action of drugs of abuse. Findings in adolescents with substance dependence based on neuroimaging tests. Alcohol abuse in adolescents: relevance of animal models. Effects of chronic drug abuse on the chronobiology of sleep in adolescents. Neurological and cognitive disorders arising from the chronic use of drugs of abuse. The multiple lenses for understanding its subject and the sensitivity with which causal nuances are treated make Neuroscience of Drug Abuse in Adolescence an invaluable resource for clinical and child psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and addiction counselors.

Ions, their transport across membranes, and their flow through specialized ion channels are central to the understanding of brain function, normal and pathological. The first part of this book deals with the regulation of ions in brain extra- and intracellular fluids. Regulation is effected by the blood-brain barrier, and by membrane ion pumps and other transport mechanisms of neurons and glial cells. Normally adjusted for optimal neural function, ion levels can change and alter the excitability of neurons and influence synaptic transmission in healthy and diseased brains. After an introduction to the electrophysiology of epilepsy, and a description of experimental seizure "models," the second part discusses the roles of the faulty regulation of ions and of the diseases of ion channels in generating epileptic seizures. The mechanisms of action of various anticonvulsant drugs are also considered. The third part is devoted to the phenomenon of spreading depression and its likely role in human diseases. The final chapters of the book deal with the role of ions in the devastation caused by lack of oxygen and by insufficient blood flow to brain tissue, and the reasons for the exceptional vulnerability of certain classes of central neurons in hypoxia and stroke. The book will be of interest to neuroscientists, neurobiologists, neurophysiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and to their students and trainees.

Essential Clinically Applied Anatomy of the Nerves in the Head and Neck presents the reader with an easy access format to clinically-applied peripheral nervous system (PNS) anatomy. Perfect for a quick reference to essential details. The chapters review nerves of the head and neck, the origin(s), course, distribution and relevant pathologies affecting each are given, where relevant. The pathologies present typical injuries to the nerves of the PNS, as well as clinical findings on examination and treatments. It details modern clinical approaches to the surgery and other treatments of these nerve pathologies, as applicable to the clinical scenario.

The 2nd World Congress on Genetics, Geriatrics and Neurodegenerative Disease Research (GeNeDis 2016), will focus on recent advances in geriatrics and neurodegeneration, ranging from basic science to clinical and pharmaceutical developments and will provide an international focum for the latest scientific discoveries, medical practices, and care initiatives. Advances information technologies will be discussed along with their implications for various research, implementation, and policy concerns. In addition, the conference will address European and global issues in the funding of long-term care and medico-social policies regarding elderly people. GeNeDis 2016 takes place in Sparta, Greece, 20-23 October, 2016. This volume focuses on thesessions that address neurodegenerative diseases.

This book is intended for use in advanced graduate courses in statistics / machine learning, as well as for all experimental neuroscientists seeking to understand statistical methods at a deeper level, and theoretical neuroscientists with a limited background in statistics. It reviews almost all areas of applied statistics, from basic statistical estimation and test theory, linear and nonlinear approaches for regression and classification, to model selection and methods for dimensionality reduction, density estimation and unsupervised clustering. Its focus, however, is linear and nonlinear time series analysis from a dynamical systems perspective, based on which it aims to convey an understanding also of the dynamical mechanisms that could have generated observed time series. Further, it integrates computational modeling of behavioral and neural dynamics with statistical estimation and hypothesis testing. This way computational models in neuroscience are not only explanatory frameworks, but become powerful, quantitative data-analytical tools in themselves that enable researchers to look beyond the data surface and unravel underlying mechanisms. Interactive examples of most methods are provided through a package of MatLab routines, encouraging a playful approach to the subject, and providing readers with a better feel for the practical aspects of the methods covered. "Computational neuroscience is essential for integrating and providing a basis for understanding the myriads of remarkable laboratory data on nervous system functions. Daniel Durstewitz has excellently covered the breadth of computational neuroscience from statistical interpretations of data to biophysically based modeling of the neurobiological sources of those data. His presentation is clear, pedagogically sound, and readily useable by experts and beginners alike. It is a pleasure to recommend this very well crafted discussion to experimental neuroscientists as well as mathematically well versed Physicists. The book acts as a window to the issues, to the questions, and to the tools for finding the answers to interesting inquiries about brains and how they function." Henry D. I. Abarbanel Physics and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego "This book delivers a clear and thorough introduction to sophisticated analysis approaches useful in computational neuroscience. The models described and the examples provided will help readers develop critical intuitions into what the methods reveal about data. The overall approach of the book reflects the extensive experience Prof. Durstewitz has developed as a leading practitioner of computational neuroscience. " Bruno B. Averbeck

This detailed volume collects protocols for experimentation into how neurons connect to produce the extraordinary functionalities of the nervous system. Contributed by experts and pioneers in their respective techniques, the book covers synapses in the brain and in culture, their constituents, their structures, their dynamics, and the assemblies they form, all in the structure of a laboratory guide. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include brief introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Synapse Development: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal guide to minimizing the barrier to entry for the integration of new approaches with existing expertise, producing syntheses that will foster novel perspectives on the many ways in which synapses form, transform, and transmit.

The endocannabinoid system consists of cannabinoid receptors, their endogenous lipid ligands (endocannabinoids) and the enzymatic machinery for their synthesis and degradation. In the brain, endocannabinoids regulate ion channel activity and neurotransmitter release and thereby contribute to various aspects of brain function, including memory, reward and emotions. Their ability to modulate synaptic efficacy has a wide range of functional consequences and provides unique therapeutic possibilities. Unprecedented advances have been made in the understanding of the role of endocannabinoids in the regulation of the emotional brain over the past few years. However, a comprehensive book encompassing all these aspects is still lacking. The book will provide an overview of the role played by the endocannabinoid system in the regulation of emotional processes with particular emphasis on the modulation of memory and reward for emotionally arousing events and for the regulation of motivational aspects in cannabis use.

Sex Differences in the Central Nervous System offers a comprehensive examination of the current state of sex differences research, from both the basic science and clinical research perspectives. Given the current NIH directive that funded preclinical research must consider both females and males, this topic is of interest to an increasing percentage of the neuroscience research population. The volume serves as an invaluable resource, offering coverage of a wide range of topics: sex differences in cognition, learning, and memory, sex hormone signaling mechanisms, neuroimmune interactions, epigenetics, social behavior, neurologic disease, psychological disorders, and stress. Discussions of research in both animal models and human patient populations are included.

This book provides an overview of neural information processing research, which is one of the most important branches of neuroscience today. Neural information processing is an interdisciplinary subject, and the merging interaction between neuroscience and mathematics, physics, as well as information science plays a key role in the development of this field. This book begins with the anatomy of the central nervous system, followed by an introduction to various information processing models at different levels. The authors all have extensive experience in mathematics, physics and biomedical engineering, and have worked in this multidisciplinary area for a number of years. They present classical examples of how the pioneers in this field used theoretical analysis, mathematical modeling and computer simulation to solve neurobiological problems, and share their experiences and lessons learned. The book is intended for researchers and students with a mathematics, physics or informatics background who are interested in brain research and keen to understand the necessary neurobiology and how they can use their specialties to address neurobiological problems. It is also provides inspiration for neuroscience students who are interested in learning how to use mathematics, physics or informatics approaches to solve problems in their field.

This volume collects protocols and procedures utilizing cellular, tissue, and whole animal models that can be applied to the investigation of neurotrophic factors and other agents impacting on these systems. It begins with chapters on the culture of neurons and glia from the central and peripheral nervous systems, neuron-glia and glia-glia co-culture models, oligodendrocytes, and cell-based assays for the evaluation of cell vitality. This revised second edition expands to cover methodology encompassing site-specific direct labeling of neurotrophins and their receptors, angiogenesis assays, stem cells, pancreatic beta-cells, axonal transport, synapse biology, dendritic spine analysis, and brain endothelial cells. Subsequent chapters are dedicated to in vivo lesion models of relevance to nervous system pathology, which can be applied to the investigation of neurotrophic factors and peptides, as well as protocols describing nanofiber- and nanoparticle-based methods for brain delivery of neurotrophic agents. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Neurotrophic Factors: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition is a valuable resource for a wide audience of readers as they explore nervous system function and pathology.

This work is motivated by the ongoing open question of how information in the outside world is represented and processed by the brain. Consequently, several novel methods are developed. A new mathematical formulation is proposed for the encoding and decoding of analog signals using integrate-and-fire neuron models. Based on this formulation, a novel algorithm, significantly faster than the state-of-the-art method, is proposed for reconstructing the input of the neuron. Two new identification methods are proposed for neural circuits comprising a filter in series with a spiking neuron model. These methods reduce the number of assumptions made by the state-of-the-art identification framework, allowing for a wider range of models of sensory processing circuits to be inferred directly from input-output observations. A third contribution is an algorithm that computes the spike time sequence generated by an integrate-and-fire neuron model in response to the output of a linear filter, given the input of the filter encoded with the same neuron model.

The scientific study of the human mind and brain has come of age with the advent of technologically advanced methods for imaging brain structure and activity in health and disease, plus computational theories of cognition. These advances are leading to sophisticated new accounts for how mental processes are implemented in the human brain, but they also raise new challenges.
Mental Processes in the Human Brain provides an integrative overview of the rapid advances and future challenges in understanding the neurobiological basis of mental processes that are characteristically (and in some cases, perhaps uniquely) human, including: language; thought; understanding of others; attention; planning and decision-making; emotion; memory; prediction; and awareness itself. It also presents the latest insights into how these various processes can break down after brain injury. With chapters from some of leading figures in the brain sciences, this book will be essential for all those in the cognitive and brain sciences.

The study of language is a field that has seen tremendous progress in the last two decades, and key to this progress is the accelerating trend toward integration of neurobiological approaches with the more established understanding of language within cognitive psychology, computer science, and linguistics. This volume serves as the definitive reference on the neurobiology of language, bringing these various advances together into a single volume of 100 concise entries. The organization includes sections on all of the area s major subfields, with each section covering both empirical data and theoretical perspectives. "Foundational" neurobiological coverage is also provided, including neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, genetics, linguistic and psycholinguistic data, and models.
Foundational reference for the current state of the field of the neurobiology of language
Enables brain and language researchers and students to stay up to date in fast moving field that crosses many disciplinary and subdisciplinary boundaries
Provides an accessible entry point for other scientists interested in the area but not actively working in it - i.e. speech therapists, neurologists, cognitive psychologists
Edited work with chapters authored by leaders in the field around the globe - the broadest, most expert coverage available."