In review, the amount of information available on the morphological and func tional properties of the frog nervous system is very extensive indeed and in certain areas is the only available source of information in vertebrates. Further more, much of the now classical knowledge in neurobiology was originally ob tained and elaborated in depth in this vertebrate. To cite only a few examples, studies of nerve conduction, neuromuscular transmission, neuronal integration, sense organs, development, and locomotion have been developed with great detail in the frog and in conjunction provide the most complete holistic descrip tion of any nervous system. Added to the above considerations, the ease with which these animals may be maintained (both as adults and during development) and the advantage of their lower cost as compared with other vertebrate forms make the frog one of the most important laboratory animals in neurobiology. With these thoughts in mind, we decided to compile this volume. Our goal in doing so was to assemble as much as possible of the information available on frog neurobiology and to have the different topics covered by authorities in each of the fields represented. To keep the handbook restricted to one volume, we found it necessary to omit the large field of amphibian muscle neurobiology, which has already been summarized in various other publications."

Temporal coding in the brain documents a revolution now occurring in the neurosciences. How does parallel processing of information bind together the complex nature of the outer and our inner worlds? Do intrinsic oscillations and transient cooperative states of neurons represent the physiological basis of cognitive and motor functions of the brain? Some answers to these challenging issues are provided in this book by leading world experts of brain function. A common denominator of the works presented in this volume is the nature and mechanisms of neuronal cooperation in the temporal domain. The topics range from simple organisms to the human brain. The volume is intended for investigators and graduate students in neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, neural computation and neurology.

A highly original theory of how the mind-brain works, based on the author's study of single neuronal cells. In I of the Vortex, Rodolfo Llinas, a founding father of modern brain science, presents an original view of the evolution and nature of mind. According to Llinas, the "mindness state" evolved to allow predictive interactions between mobile creatures and their environment. He illustrates the early evolution of mind through a primitive animal called the "sea squirt." The mobile larval form has a brainlike ganglion that receives sensory information about the surrounding environment. As an adult, the sea squirt attaches itself to a stationary object and then digests most of its own brain. This suggests that the nervous system evolved to allow active movement in animals. To move through the environment safely, a creature must anticipate the outcome of each movement on the basis of incoming sensory data. Thus the capacity to predict is most likely the ultimate brain function. One could even say that Self is the centralization of prediction. At the heart of Llinas's theory is the concept of oscillation. Many neurons possess electrical activity, manifested as oscillating variations in the minute voltages across the cell membrane. On the crests of these oscillations occur larger electrical events that are the basis for neuron-to-neuron communication. Like cicadas chirping in unison, a group of neurons oscillating in phase can resonate with a distant group of neurons. This simultaneity of neuronal activity is the neurobiological root of cognition. Although the internal state that we call the mind is guided by the senses, it is also generated by the oscillations within the brain. Thus, in a certain sense, one could say that reality is not all "out there," but is a kind of virtual reality.