Episodic memory is the name of the kind of memory that records personal experiences instead of the mere remembering of impersonal facts and rules. This type of memory is extremely sensitive to ageing and disease so an understanding of the mechanisms of episodic memory might lead to the development of therapies suited to improve memory in some patient populations. Episodic memory is unique in that it includes an aspect of self-awareness and helps us to remember who we are in terms of what we did and what we have been passed through and what we should do in the future.
This book brings together a renowned team of contributors from the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and behavioural and molecular neuroscience. It provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of recent developments in understanding human episodic memory and animal episodic-like memory in terms of concepts, methods, mechanisms, neurobiology and pathology. The work presented within this book will have a profound effect on the direction that future research in this topic will take.
- The first and most current comprehensive handbook on what we know about episodic memory, the memory of events, time, place, and emotion, and a key feature of awareness and consciousness
- Articles summarize our understanding of the mechanisms of episodic memory as well as surveying the neurobiology of epsidodic memory in patients, animal studies and functional imaging work
- Includes 34 heavily illustrated chapters in two sections by the leading scientists in the field

We all seem to think that we do the acts we do because we consciously choose to do them. This commonsense view is thrown into dispute by Benjamin Libet's eyebrow-raising experiments, which seem to suggest that conscious will occurs not before but after the start of brain activity that produces physical action.
Libet's striking results are often claimed to undermine traditional views of free will and moral responsibility and to have practical implications for criminal justice. His work has also stimulated a flurry of further fascinating scientific research--including findings in psychology by Dan Wegner and in neuroscience by John-Dylan Haynes--that raises novel questions about whether conscious will plays any causal role in action. Critics respond that both commonsense views of action and traditional theories of moral and legal responsibility, as well as free will, can survive the scientific onslaught of Libet and his progeny. To further this lively debate, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Lynn Nadel have brought together prominent experts in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and law to discuss whether our conscious choices really cause our actions, and what the answers to that question mean for how we view ourselves and how we should treat each other.

We are at the midpoint in the "Decade of the Brain." Why do we know so much and yet understand so little about the brain? The field of neuroscience has exploded, and anyone who attends one of the large meetings has the impression of drinking from a fire hydran- as so aptly put by the late neuroanatomist Walle J. H. Nauta. Part of that feeling is a general-information problem, experienced in other fields of scienc as well. In brain research, however, the problem is accentuated by the rapid advances of molecular and cellular brain research. The dynamics created by these lines of research have multiplied published output, but have inevitably entailed a compartmentalization of scientific interests and research strategies. If the cost of gaining knowledge is a shrinking horizon of the individual scientist, neuroscience must develop strategies for organizing the acquisition of knowledge. Some of this guidance is given by the society -by medical and, perhaps, commercial needs. But who provides the backbone for establishing a generally accepted "schema" for basic brain research -a frame of reference onto which the millions of information fragments can be fitted, in a way acceptable to a multicultural and polymethodical neuroscience community? We believe that developmental and evolutionary biology has the potential to provide a commonly accepted frame of reference for that multilevel system approach needed to understand the workings of the brain.

Neuroscience of Enduring Change is founded on the premise that all major psychotherapy modalities producing enduring change do so by virtue of corrective emotional experiences that alter problematic memories through the process of reconsolidation. This book is unique in linking basic science concepts to clinical research and clinical application. Experts in each area address each of the basic science and clinical topics. No other book addresses a general mechanism of change in psychotherapy in combination with the basic science underpinning it. This book is also unique in bringing the latest neuroimaging evidence and cutting-edge conceptual approaches to bear in understanding how psychological and behavioral treatment approaches bring about lasting change in the brain. Clinicians will benefit from the detailed discussion of basic mechanisms that underpin their clinical interventions and will be challenged to consider how their approach to therapy might be adjusted to optimize the opportunities for enduring change. Researchers will benefit from authoritative reviews of extant knowledge and a clear description of the research agenda going forward. The cross-fertilization between the research and clinical domains is evident throughout.

The legal system depends upon memory function in a number of critical ways, including the memories of victims, the memories of individuals who witness crimes or other critical events, the memories of investigators, lawyers, and judges engaged in the legal process, and the memories of jurors. How well memory works, how accurate it is, how it is affected by various aspects of the criminal justice system -- these are all important questions. But there are others as well: Can we tell when someone is reporting an accurate memory? Can we distinguish a true memory from a false one? Can memories be selectively enhanced, or erased? Are memories altered by emotion, by stress, by drugs? These questions and more are addressed by Memory and Law, which aims to present the current state of knowledge among cognitive and neural scientists about memory as applied to the law.

We are at the midpoint in the "Decade of the Brain". Why do we know so much and yet understand so little about the brain? The field of neuroscience has exploded, and anyone who attends one of the large meetings has the impression of drinking from a fire hydran- as so aptly put by the late neuroanatomist Walle J. H. Nauta. Part of that feeling is a general-information problem, experienced in other fields of scienc as well. In brain research, however, the problem is accentuated by the rapid advances of molecular and cellular brain research. The dynamics created by these lines of research have multiplied published output, but have inevitably entailed a compartmentalization of scientific interests and research strategies. If the cost of gaining knowledge is a shrinking horizon of the individual scientist, neuroscience must develop strategies for organizing the acquisition of knowledge. Some of this guidance is given by the society -by medical and, perhaps, commercial needs. But who provides the backbone for establishing a generally accepted "schema" for basic brain research -a frame of reference onto which the millions of information fragments can be fitted, in a way acceptable to a multicultural and polymethodical neuroscience community? We believe that developmental and evolutionary biology has the potential to provide a commonly accepted frame of reference for that multilevel system approach needed to understand the workings of the brain.

The idea of a 'complex system' remains, despite nebulous, despite persistent attempts at classification and characterization. In its three-year history, the Complex Systems Summer School had developed as a leading force in complexity education and research and contributed in a lasting way to the search for a true definition of a complex system.

This is the paperback edition of a title that has sold 1481 copies in hardback since 2000. This unique book draws its a inspiration from the belief that the role of cognition in emotion is an important yet relatively neglected aspect of cognitive neuroscience. By carefully examining underlying assumptions and the nature of the phenomena under same time investigation, editors and contributors reach the surprising conclusion that emotion - in all of its mystery andabout ineffability - can be studied without compromise within the field of cognitive neuroscience. Its superb selection of contributors identify what is currently known and the ways future research can extend knowledge of emotion and the brain. In doing so, they skillfully illuminate four major areas of research: the process of emotion generation, the functions of the amygdala, the conscious experience of emotion and emotion regulation and dysregulation. This book also reviews the latest findings from neuroanatomical studies in rats and non-human primates; neuropsychological, neurological and psychiatric investigations; studies in psychopathology and experimental psychology; and functional brain imaging research.

The fifteen original contributions in Language and Space bring together the major lines of research and the most important theoretical viewpoints in the areas of psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and neuroscience, providing a much needed synthesis across these diverse domains. The study of the relationship between natural language and spatial cognition has the potential to yield answers to vexing questions about the nature of the mind, language, and culture. The fifteen original contributions in Language and Space bring together the major lines of research and the most important theoretical viewpoints in the areas of psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and neuroscience, providing a much needed synthesis across these diverse domains. Each chapter gives a clear up-to-date account of a particular research program. Overall, they address such questions as: how does the brain represent space, how many kinds of spatial representations are there, how do we learn to talk about space and what role does culture play in these matters, should experimental tests of the relations between space and language be restricted to closed-class linguistic elements or must the role of open-class elements be considered as well? Throughout authors speak to each other's arguments, laying bare key areas of agreement and disagreement. Contributors Manfred Bierwisch, Paul Bloom, Melissa Bowerman, Karen Emmorey, Merrill Garrett, Ray Jackendoff, Philip Johnson-Laird, Barbara Landau, Willem Levelt, Stephen Levinson, Gordon Logan, Jean Mandler, Lynn Nadel, John O'Keefe, Mary Peterson, Daniel Sadler, Tim Shallice, Len Talmy, Barbara Tversky

A foremost scholar in comparative cognition--a discipline closely connected to behavioral biology, evolution, and cognitive neuroscience--author Sara J. Shettleworth delivers a focused treatment of the essentials in writing that is both lucid and captivating.
Brief, yet brimming with detail, Fundamentals of Comparative Cognition conveys the richness and complexity of this diverse field while addressing two fundamental questions: "What makes us uniquely human?" and "What do our minds share with other creatures?"