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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Neurosciences
During the last two decades, there has been an explosion of research pertaining to the molecular mechanisms that allow for organisms to detect different stimuli that is an essential feature for their survival. Among these mechanisms, living beings need to be able to respond to different temperatures as well as chemical and physical stimuli. Thermally activated ion channels were proposed to be present in sensory neurons in the 1980s, but it was not until 1997 that a heat- and capsaicin- activated ion channel, TRPV1, was cloned and its function described in detail. This groundbreaking discovery led to the identification and characterization of several more proteins of the family of Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) ion channels. Intensive research has provided us with the atomic structures of some of these proteins, as well as understanding of their physiological roles, both in normal and pathological conditions. With chapters contributed by renowned experts in the field, Neurobiology of TRP Channels contains a state- of- the- art overview of our knowledge of TRP channels, ranging from structure to their functions in organismal physiology. Features: * Contains chapters on the roles of several TRP ion channels with a diversity of physiological functions, providing a complete picture of the widespread importance of these proteins. * Presents an overview of the structure of TRP channels, including the roles of these proteins in different physiological processes. * Discusses the roles of TRP channels in pathophysiological processes, further highlighting their importance. * Features several full color illustrations to allow the reader better comprehension of TRP channels. A volume in the Frontiers in Neuroscience series
Religious belief, once in the domain of the humanities, has found a new home in the sciences. Promising new developments in the study of religion by cognitive scientists and evolutionary theorists put forward empirical hypotheses regarding the origin, spread, and character of religious beliefs. Different theories deal with different aspects of human religiosity - some focus on religious beliefs, while others focus on religious actions, and still others on the origin of religious ideas. While these theories might share a similar focus, there is plenty of disagreement in the explanations they offer. This volume examines the diversity of new scientific theories of religion, by outlining the logical and causal relationships between these enterprises. Are they truly in competition, as their proponents sometimes suggest, or are they complementary and mutually illuminating accounts of religious belief and practice? Cognitive science has gained much from an interdisciplinary focus on mental function, and this volume explores the benefits that can be gained from a similar approach to the scientific study of religion.
Social Neuroscience of Psychiatric Disorders is about the role of the Social Brain in neuropsychiatry. The need to belong to social groups and interact with others has driven much of the evolution of the human brain. The relatively young field of social neuroscience has made impressive strides towards clarifying the neural correlates of the Social Brain, but, until recently, has not focused on mental and neurological disorders. Yet, the Social Brain underlies all brain-behaviour disorders, and nearly every neuropsychiatric illness involves social behavioural disturbances. This unique and ground-breaking volume is a major step forward in deciphering the impact of the Social Brain on neuropsychiatric disorders. Investigators evaluate neuropsychiatric disorders in the context of recent advances in social neuroscience to reveal the impact of social brain mechanisms on neuropsychiatric disorders and allow readers to glimpse the exciting potential advances in this field in the years to come. This book was originally published as a special issue of Social Neuroscience.
A New Scientist best book of 2021 Shortlisted for the 'Sports Performance Book of the Year' Award for 2022 Did you know that walking can improve your cognitive skills? That strengthening your muscular core reduces anxiety? That light stretching can combat a whole host of mental and bodily ailments, from stress to inflammation? We all know that exercise changes the way you think and feel. But scientists are just starting to discover exactly how it works. Hailed as a 'delight' by The New York Times and 'fascinating' by Women's Health, Caroline Williams explores the emerging science of how movement opens up a hotline to our minds. Interviewing researchers and practitioners around the world, Move! reveals how you can work your body to improve your mind. As we emerge from over a year's worth of lockdowns, there is no better time to take control of how you think and feel.
When an excessive proportion of the human energy requirement is derived from fat, the likelihood of obesity increases. Any such individual is at risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease- grave and costly health hazards. The selective control of fat ingestion is a promising solution to these concerns. Existing data suggests that macronutrient intake can be manipulated. Further research is working to create pharmacological tools that will suppress fat consumption. It will also be possible to fight obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Neural and Metabolic Control of Macronutrient Intake systematically discusses the known physiological mechanisms involved in macronutrientselection, including their molecular, genetic and neurochemical aspects. The book is also a critical review of the hypothesis that ingestion of the three nutrients is regulated by separate neural control mechanisms, leaving open the possibility that strategies could be devised to intervene in bodily control systems and alter the proportion of fat in the diet. This reference provides three types of information: First, the basic background of the biochemical and physiological systems as they relate to macronutrient selection. Second, opinions and data concerning to what degree animals and humans show evidence of macronutrient selection. And, third, evidence about how the central nervous system might be involved in the choices animals make among macronutrients.
This work contributes to a better understanding of the growing subnational involvement in foreign affairs. It offers a general view of the most prominent aspects in the development of subnational foreign action around the world, dealing with topics such as the repercussions upon subnational autonomy of the progressive constitution of diverse international regimes like the European Union, NAFTA, and APEC, or the complex relation between the growing subnational foreign action and the contemporary conditions for the formulation and implementation of foreign policy in federal and quasifederal states.
This work contributes to a better understanding of the growing subnational involvement in foreign affairs. It offers a general view of the most prominent aspects in the development of subnational foreign action around the world, dealing with topics such as the repercussions upon subnational autonomy of the progressive constitution of diverse international regimes like the European Union, NAFTA, and APEC, or the complex relation between the growing subnational foreign action and the contemporary conditions for the formulation and implementation of foreign policy in federal and quasifederal states.
Utilizing the flood of new information derived from the Human Genome Project and corresponding efforts to elucidate the mouse genome, Genetic Influences on Neural and Behavioral Functions provides a scholarly catalog, organized logically, of relations between the expression of specific genes, nerve cell biology and behavior, normal and abnormal, in animals AND humans.
"I loved the book! This book is not just interesting, it is exciting. I have probably read every significant book in the field, and this is the strongest and most convincing one yet. It is also one of the most comprehensive in its explanations. I shall most certainly recommend the book to colleagues." -Richard G. Petty, MD "a very good introduction to the basic theory of quantum systems.... Dr. Georgiev's book aptly prepares the reader to confront whatever might be in store later." -from the Foreword by Prof. James F. Glazebrook, Eastern Illinois University This book addresses the fascinating cross-disciplinary field of quantum information theory applied to the study of brain function. It offers a self-study guide to probe the problems of consciousness, including a concise but rigorous introduction to classical and quantum information theory, theoretical neuroscience, and philosophy of the mind. It aims to address long-standing problems related to consciousness within the framework of modern theoretical physics in a comprehensible manner that elucidates the nature of the mind-body relationship. The reader also gains an overview of methods for constructing and testing quantum informational theories of consciousness.
Shadow Working in Project Management aims at contributing to our knowledge of all things unconscious and irrational in our behaviour. It takes the form of an empirical research, and therefore addresses mostly the tools and techniques available to get in touch with Shadow aspects of self and collective, to recognize how it manifests, how it can lead to conflict, and ways to address it. From that perspective, it advances on to question the underlying beliefs of current management practices. It explores as well the inherent need for control in projects, being those of a professional nature, or other ventures. It challenges the strength of the concept of the "rational man" and its protagonism. Joana Bertholo's work explores the role and nature of the Shadow in the context of projects and their management, with an emphasis on techniques to address it. Despite being directed to managers and dedicated to the analyses of the managerial discourse, the tools and processes it proposes have universal relevance, based on the fact that the Shadow is everywhere, within everyone, from the individual to the global scale.
One particularly adaptive feature of human cognition is the ability to mentally preview specific events before they take place in reality. Familiar examples of this ability-often referred to as episodic future thinking-include what happens when an employee imagines when, where, and how they might go about asking their boss for a raise, or when a teenager anguishes over what might happen if they ask their secret crush on a date. In this book, the editors bring together current perspectives from researchers from around the globe who are working to develop a deeper understanding of the manner in which the simulations of future events are constructed, the role of emotion and personal meaning in the context of episodic simulation, and how the ability to imagine specific future events relates to other forms of future thinking such as the ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Stroke is one of the most important and most feared conditions known to man. The threat of stroke is important to all people. What could be more devastating than to lose the ability to speak, move a limb, stand, talk, see, read, feel write or even think? This book brings together ideas, events and advances - the stories - before and during the 20th Century through the accounts of global experts in the field, many of them having been first-hand witnesses to progress. Focusing on selected stories of stroke, this book offers a readable summary of the most dramatic and extensive changes in knowledge about stroke and in caring for stroke patients. Of interest to anyone interested in neurosciences and for physicians caring for stroke patients, this book informs on moving forward, by looking to how we got to where we are.
Spotting a face in a crowd is so easy, you take it for granted. But how you do it is one of science's great mysteries. Vision is involved in nearly a third of everything a brain does and explaining how it works reveals more than just how we see. It also tells us how the brain processes information - how it perceives, learns and remembers. In We Know It When We See It, pioneering neuroscientist Richard Masland covers everything from what happens when light hits your retina, to the increasingly sophisticated nerve nets that turn that light into knowledge, to what a computer algorithm must be able to do before it can truly be called 'intelligent'. It is a profound yet accessible investigation into how our bodies make sense of the world.
With contributions from more than 40 renowned experts, Modeling in the Neurosciences: From Ionic Channels to Neural Networks is essential for those interested in neuronal modeling and quantitative neiroscience. Focusing on new mathematical and computer models, techniques and methods, this monograph represents a cohesive and comprehensive treatment of various aspects of the neurosciences from the biophysical, cellular and netwrok levels. Many state-of-the-art examples are presented as to how mathematical and computer modeling can contribute to the understanding of mechanisms and systems in the neurosciences. Each chapter also includes suggestions of possible refinements for future modeling in this rapidly changing and expanding field. This book will benefit and inspire the advanced modeler, and give the beginner sufficient confidence to model a wide selection of neuronal systems at the biophysical, cellular and network levels.
During the past decade a diverse group of disciplines have simultaneously intensified their attention upon the scientific study of emotion. This proliferation of research on affective phenomena has been paralleled by an acceleration of investigations of early human structural and functional development. Developmental neuroscience is now delving into the ontogeny of brain systems that evolve to support the psychobiological underpinnings of socioemotional functioning. Studies of the infant brain demonstrate that its maturation is influenced by the environment and is experience-dependent. Developmental psychological research emphasizes that the infant's expanding socioaffective functions are critically influenced by the affect-transacting experiences it has with the primary caregiver. Concurrent developmental psychoanalytic research suggests that the mother's affect regulatory functions permanently shape the emerging self's capacity for self-organization. Studies of incipient relational processes and their effects on developing structure are thus an excellent paradigm for the deeper apprehension of the organization and dynamics of affective phenomena. This book brings together and presents the latest findings of socioemotional studies emerging from the developmental branches of various disciplines. It supplies psychological researchers and clinicians with relevant, up-to-date developmental neurobiological findings and insights, and exposes neuroscientists to recent developmental psychological and psychoanalytic studies of infants. The methodology of this theoretical research involves the integration of information that is being generated by the different fields that are studying the problem of socioaffective development--neurobiology, behavioral neurology, behavioral biology, sociobiology, social psychology, developmental psychology, developmental psychoanalysis, and infant psychiatry. A special emphasis is placed upon the application and incorporation of current developmental data from neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, and neuroendocrinology into the main body of developmental theory. More than just a review of several literatures, the studies cited in this work are used as a multidisciplinary source pool of experimental data, theoretical concepts, and clinical observations that form the base and scaffolding of an overarching heuristic model of socioemotional development that is grounded in contemporary neuroscience. This psychoneurobiological model is then used to generate a number of heuristic hypotheses regarding the proximal causes of a wide array of affect-related phenomena--from the motive force that drives human attachment to the proximal causes of psychiatric disturbances and psychosomatic disorders, and indeed to the origin of the self.
Perception and action have long been considered as two separate
information processes and accordingly they have been investigated
in relative isolation from one another. However, it is acknowledged
that perception and action are functionally related.
The rapid growth of the study of apoptosis-mechanism-driven, regulated cell death-has created an urgent need for reliable documentation of t he different approaches to and methods of studying the various aspects of the field. Apoptosis in Neurobiology is an important resource for researchers in this emerging frontier of biomedical study. This volume allows the uninitiated neuroscientist intellectual and practical acce ss to the study of apoptosis, with special consideration to the nervou s system. The first section concentrates on conceptual approaches to t he study of apoptosis in neurobiology and its significance to the nerv ous system. The second section provides a user-friendly approach to me thods and techniques in the study of apoptosis as applied to neurobiol ogy.
An enthralling exploration that upends the prevailing view of consciousness and demonstrates how intelligence is literally embedded in the palms of our hands If you think that intelligence emanates from the mind and that reasoning necessitates the suppression of emotion, you'd better think again-or rather not "think" at all. In his provocative new book, Guy Claxton draws on the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology to reveal how our bodies-long dismissed as mere conveyances-actually constitute the core of our intelligent life. From the endocrinal means by which our organs communicate to the instantaneous decision-making prompted by external phenomena, our bodies are able to perform intelligent computations that we either overlook or wrongly attribute to our brains. Embodied intelligence is one of the most exciting areas in contemporary philosophy and neuropsychology, and Claxton shows how the privilege given to cerebral thinking has taken a toll on modern society, resulting in too much screen time, the diminishment of skilled craftsmanship, and an overvaluing of white-collar over blue-collar labor. Discussing techniques that will help us reconnect with our bodies, Claxton shows how an appreciation of the body's intelligence will enrich all our lives.
Mirror neurons are premotor neurons, originally discovered in the macaque brain , that discharge both during execution of goal-directed actions and during the observation of similar actions executed by another individual. They therefore 'mirror' others' actions on the observer's motor repertoire. In the last decade an impressive amount of work has been devoted to the study of their properties and to investigate if they are present also in our species. Neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques have shown that a mirror-neuron system does exist in the human brain as well. Among 'mirror' human areas, Broca's area (the frontal area for speech production) is almost constantly activated by action observation. This suggests a possible evolutionary link between action understanding and verbal communication. In the most recent years, mirror-like phenomena have been demonstrated also for domains others than the pure motor one. Examples of that are the somatosensory and the emotional systems, possibly providing a neurophysiological basis to phenomena such as embodiment and empathy. This special issue collects some of the most representative works on the mirror-neuron system to give a panoramic view on current research and to stimulate new experiments in this exciting field.
Dreams, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis sets out to give a scientific consistency to the question of time and find out how time determines brain functioning. Neurological investigations into dreams and sleep since the mid-20th century have challenged our scientific conception of living beings. On this basis, Keramat Movallali reviews the foundations of modern neurophysiology in the light of other trends in this field that have been neglected by the cognitive sciences, trends that seem to be increasingly confirmed by recent research. The author begins by giving a historical view of fundamental questions such as the nature of the living being according to discoveries in ethology as well as in other research, especially that which is based on the theory of the reflex. It becomes clear in the process that these findings are consistent with the question of time as it has been considered in some major contemporary philosophies. This is then extended to the domain of dreams and sleep, as phenomena that are said to be elucidated by the question of time. The question is then raised: can dreaming be considered as a drive? Based on the Freudian discovery of the unconscious and Lacan's teachings, Movallali seeks to provide a better understanding of the drives in general and dreams in particular. He explores neuroscience in terms of its development as well as its discoveries in the function of dreaming as an altered mode of consciousness. The challenge of confronting psychoanalysis with neuroscience forces us to go beyond their division and opposition. Psychoanalysis cannot overlook what has now become a worldwide scientific approach. Neuroscience, just like the cognitive sciences, will be further advanced by acknowledging the desiring dimension of humanity, which is at the very heart of its being as essentially related to the question of time. It is precisely this dimension that is at the core of psychoanalytic practice. Dreams, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists as well as neuroscientists, psychologists, ethologists, philosophers and advanced students studying across these fields.
This collection of nine papers brings together Naoki Fukui's pioneering body of work on Merge, the basic operation of human language syntax, from the two distinct but related perspectives of theoretical syntax and neurosciences. Part I presents an overview of the development of the theory of Merge and its current formulations in linguistic theory, highlighting the author's previously published papers in theoretical syntax, while Part II focuses on experimental research on Merge in the brain science of language, demonstrating how new techniques and the results they produce can inform the study of syntactic structures in the brain in the future. By combining insights from theoretical linguistics and neurosciences, this book presents an innovative unified account of the study of Merge and paves new directions for future research for graduate students and scholars in theoretical linguistics, neuroscience, syntax, and cognitive science.
Theory and research in aphasiology have typically concentrated on a
limited population--right-handed adult monolinguals whose language
uses an alphabetic code. Bilingual individuals, ideographical code
users, and children (among others) have been separated out. This
book examines the available data from these "atypical" aphasics,
asking whether what makes them different has a significant effect
on language representation and processing in the brain. Each
chapter reviews literature pertinent to a given population and
explores whether (and potentially how) these populations differ
from the "typical" aphasic population. The ultimate goal is to
better understand whether the model of language used in aphasiology
can be extended to these "atypical" populations, or conversely,
whether significant differences merit the development of a new
model. |
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