Neurosciences Books

Book SynopsisA review of the scientific evidence on the effects of cannabinoids on brain and behavioral functioning, with an emphasis on potential therapeutic use.The cannabis plant has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for more than 4,000 years, but the scientific investigation into its effects has only recently yielded useful results. In this book, Linda Parker offers a review of the scientific evidence on the effects of cannabinoids on brain and behavioral functioning, with an emphasis on potential therapeutic uses.Parker describes the discovery of tetrahydocannbinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, and the further discovery of cannabinoid receptors in the brain. She explains that the brain produces chemicals similar to THC, which act on the same receptors as THC, and shows that the endocannabinoid system is involved in all aspects of brain functioning. Parker reports that cannabis contains not only the psychoactive compound THC, but also

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Book SynopsisWhen celebrated neuropsychologist Paul Broks's wife died of cancer, it sparked a journey of grief and reflection that traced a lifelong attempt to understand how the brain gives rise to the soul. The result of that journey is a gorgeous, evocative meditation on fate, death, consciousness, and what it means to be human.   The Darker the Night, The Brighter the Stars weaves a scientist’s understanding of the mind – its logic, its nuance, how we think about what makes a person – with a poet’s approach to humanity, that crucial and ever-elusive why. It’s a story that unfolds through the centuries, along the path of humankind’s constant quest to discover what makes us human, and the answers that consistently slip out of our grasp. It’s modern medicine and psychology and ancient tales; history and myth combined; fiction and the stranger truth.   But, most importantly, it’s Broks’ story, grou

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Book SynopsisIn this optimistic and inspiring book, Peter Whybrow, the prize-winning author of American Mania, returns to offer a prescription for genuine human progress.Trade Review"Though The Well-Tuned Brain is packed with powerful recent research, its punch comes from the philosophical meditation at its core. Peter Whybrow ponders how living our best lives can make the best world. This book is a courageous manifesto about human frailty that delineates the care with which we need to treat ourselves and those around us. We ignore its message at terrible personal and social cost." -- Andrew Solomon, National Book Award–winning author of The Noonday Demon and Far from the Tree"As we face the biggest problems civilizations have ever confronted—climate change above all—it’s crucial that we understand why our brains are being hijacked in the wrong direction. Peter Whybrow’s book does exactly that, making it possible for us to summon the grace and will necessary to do the right thing." -- Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"In The Well-Tuned Brain Peter Whybrow combines gripping big themes with an abundance of fascinating stories. The big themes revolve around the collision between our ancient human habits, our human brains often operating on autopilot, and the seductive material success of our modern market economy. You’ll find this book as rich and as thought-provoking as it is enjoyable." -- Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and The World Until Yesterday

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Book SynopsisIn this optimistic and inspiring book, Peter Whybrow, the prize-winning author of American Mania, returns to offer a prescription for genuine human progress.Trade Review"Though The Well-Tuned Brain is packed with powerful recent research, its punch comes from the philosophical meditation at its core. Peter Whybrow ponders how living our best lives can make the best world. This book is a courageous manifesto about human frailty that delineates the care with which we need to treat ourselves and those around us. We ignore its message at terrible personal and social cost." -- Andrew Solomon, National Book Award–winning author of The Noonday Demon and Far from the Tree"As we face the biggest problems civilizations have ever confronted—climate change above all—it’s crucial that we understand why our brains are being hijacked in the wrong direction. Peter Whybrow’s book does exactly that, making it possible for us to summon the grace and will necessary to do the right thing." -- Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"Combines gripping big themes with an abundance of fascinating stories. The big themes revolve around the collision between our ancient human habits, our human brains often operating on autopilot, and the seductive material success of our modern market economy. You’ll find this book as rich and as thought-provoking as it is enjoyable." -- Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and The World Until Yesterday

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Book Synopsis“You should read this funny, stimulating and rewarding book. You’ll be happy you did.” —GuardianTrade Review"Dean Burnett approaches the complex, often fleeting, state of mental satisfaction with ebullient curiosity and wonder." -- Salon"You should read this funny, stimulating and rewarding book. You’ll be happy you did." -- The Guardian"A pleasing tour of the brain and its feel-good longings." -- Kirkus Reviews"Dean Burnett is a real funny cat, and I adore him and his brain." -- Whoopi Goldberg

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Book SynopsisA Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Nonfiction Book of Winter 2020 and a Real Simple Best Book of 2020 (So Far) A revelatory investigation of friendship, with profound implications for our understanding of what humans and animals alike need to thrive across a lifetime.Trade Review"Accessible and enlightening...By highlighting the importance of human connection, Denworth has crafted a worthy call to action." -- Barbara King - Washington Post"[Denworth] has a solid command of the complex material before her and a seemingly effortless ability to make it not just digestible but engaging... [She] sticks to the science, calmly telling us the truth no matter what we need to hear. What else are friends for?" -- Daniel Akst - Wall Street Journal"The power of friendship—in many ways the most essential of our relationships—has long been underestimated. It's an absolute pleasure to see Lydia Denworth do it justice in this lovely, insightful, and important book." -- Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Poison Squad"Friendship was once mocked as a naive notion, irrelevant in our species and nonexistent in others. In her lively, personable style, Lydia Denworth reviews what we know about the benefits of close relationships and their long evolutionary history" -- Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s Last Hug"The science of friendship has grown remarkably rich in recent years, with scientists studying everything from the chemicals that create bonds in our brains to the friendships animals make for years on end. There's a deep evolutionary story to friendship now, and Lydia Denworth tells it in clear, lyrical prose." -- Carl Zimmer, author of She Has Her Mother's Laugh"Critical and convincing... Denworth’s work achieves the best of science writing by making complicated concepts clear. She uses intelligent observation, empathy, and curiosity to offer a friendship manifesto that will absolutely affect readers' own personal approaches to friendship." -- Booklist (starred review)"In addition to examining the scientific underpinnings of friendship, Denworth capably demonstrates how loneliness...is truly a health- and life-threatening condition, and there are things to be done to avoid it. Convincing evidence that evolution endowed us with a need for friends, support, comfort, stimulation, and, ultimately, happiness." -- Kirkus Reviews"Denworth draws several striking conclusions...[Friendship] provide[s] an effective introduction to its subject." -- Publishers Weekly"A sweeping, precise, and engaging narrative about our primordial capacity for friendship. If you care about what really matters in life, read this fantastic natural history of human friendship." -- Nicholas A. Christakis, author of Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society"I can think of no better rebuke to today’s success-obsessed brand of parenting than Denworth’s clarion call for friendship. Her convincing narration of the science shows that for our kids to live happily ever after, and successfully too, we must let them spend many more afternoons with friends." -- Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsSECTION I. Neurophysiologic changes in pregnancy 1. Neuroendocrine mechanisms of reproduction 2. Neurophysiological and cognitive changes in pregnancy 3. Adaptations in autonomic nervous system regulation in normal and hypertensive pregnancy 4. Physiology of the cerebrovascular adaptation to pregnancy 5. Neurobiology of maternal mental illness SECTION II. The pregnant patient: General issues in neurologic care 6. Epidemiology of neurologic disease in pregnancy 7. Neuro-obstetrics: A multidisciplinary approach to care of women with neurologic disease 8. Perinatal pharmacology and safety profiles 9. Neuroimaging and radiation exposure in pregnancy 10. Neuro-anesthesiology in pregnancy 11. Neurocritical care of the pregnant patient 12. Neurologic complications of medical conditions in pregnancy 13. The ethics of neurologically complicated pregnancies SECTION III. Prenatal neurologic diagnoses: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management 14. The developing brain by trimester 15. Diagnosis and management of congenital neurologic disease during pregnancy 16. Perinatal stroke

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Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER • An award-winning psychologist reveals the hidden power of our inner voice and shows how to harness it to combat anxiety, improve physical and mental health, and deepen our relationships with others.LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • “A masterpiece.”—Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit • Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel H. Pink’s Next Big Idea Club Winter 2021 Winning SelectionOne of the best new books of the year—The Washington Post, BBC, USA Today, CNN Underscored, Shape, Behavioral Scientist, PopSugar • Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness starred reviewsTell a stranger that you talk to yourself, and you’re likely to get written off as eccentric. But the truth is that we all have a voice in our head. When we talk to ourselves, we often hope to tap into our inner coach but find our inner critic instead. When we’re facing a tough task, our inner coach can buoy us up: Focus—you can do this. But, just as often, our inner critic sinks us entirely: I’m going to fail. They’ll all laugh at me. What’s the use? In Chatter, acclaimed psychologist Ethan Kross explores the silent conversations we have with ourselves. Interweaving groundbreaking behavioral and brain research from his own lab with real-world case studies—from a pitcher who forgets how to pitch, to a Harvard undergrad negotiating her double life as a spy—Kross explains how these conversations shape our lives, work, and relationships. He warns that giving in to negative and disorienting self-talk—what he calls “chatter”—can tank our health, sink our moods, strain our social connections, and cause us to fold under pressure. But the good news is that we’re already equipped with the tools we need to make our inner voice work in our favor. These tools are often hidden in plain sight—in the words we use to think about ourselves, the technologies we embrace, the diaries we keep in our drawers, the conversations we have with our loved ones, and the cultures we create in our schools and workplaces. Brilliantly argued, expertly researched, and filled with compelling stories, Chatter gives us the power to change the most important conversation we have each day: the one we have with ourselves.

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Book Synopsis“Fascinating and useful . . . The distinguished memory researcher Scott A. Small explains why forgetfulness is not only normal but also beneficial.”—Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of The Code Breaker and Leonardo da VinciWho wouldn’t want a better memory? Dr. Scott Small has dedicated his career to understanding why memory forsakes us. As director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia University, he focuses largely on patients who experience pathological forgetting, and it is in contrast to their suffering that normal forgetting, which we experience every day, appears in sharp relief. Until recently, most everyone—memory scientists included—believed that forgetting served no purpose. But new research in psychology, neurobiology, medicine, and computer science tells a different story. Forgetting is not a failure of our minds. It’s not even a benign glitch. It is, in fac

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Book SynopsisFor readers of Kolbert''s Under a White Sky and Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life, to all those who love science books about the brainThe effects of climate change on our brains are a public health crisis that has gone largely unreported. Based on six years of research, award-winning journalist and trained neuroscientist Clayton Page Aldern synthesizes the emerging neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics of climate change and brain health. A masterpiece of deeply reported, superb literary journalism, this book shows readers how a changing environment is changing us, today, from the inside out. Aldern calls it the weight of nature.Newly named mental conditions include: climate grief, ecoanxiety, environmental melancholia, pre-traumatic stress disorder. High-schoolers are preparing for a chaotic climate with the same combination of urgency, fear, and resignation they reserve for active-shooter drills. But mostly, as Aldern richly details, we don’t realize what global warming is doing to our brains.More heat means it is harder to think straight and solve problems. It influences serotonin release, which in turn increases the chance of impulsive violence. Air pollution from wildfires and smokestacks affects everything from sleeplessness to baseball umpires’ error rates. Immigration judges are more likely to reject asylum applications on hotter days. And these kinds of effects are not easily medicated, since certain drugs we might look to just aren’t as effective at higher temperatures. Heatwaves and hurricanes can wear on memory, language, and pain systems. Wildfires seed PTSD. And climate-fueled ecosystem changes extend the reach of brain-disease carriers like the mosquitos of cerebral-malaria fame, brain-eating amoebae, and the bats that brought us the mental fog of long Covid.From farms in the San Joaquin Valley and public schools across the US to communities in Norway''s arctic, Micronesian islands, and the French Alps, this is a disturbing, unprecedented portrait of a global crisis we thought we understood.

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Book SynopsisWeaving together the story of his fractured relationship to his mother with research into her paranormal abilities, Dr. Christian Smith has created, in The Scientist and the Psychic, a captivating, one-of-a-kind memoir of belief, skepticism and familial love.Christian Smith realized his mother was different in the autumn of 1977 when he was eight years old. Before then, he'd witnessed séances at home and the kids at school sometimes teased him about his mom being a witch--so he sensed that his life wasn't typical. But it wasn't until he was backstage at a renowned concert venue in Toronto, watching from behind a curtain as Geraldine commanded an audience of 2,000 with her extrasensory readings, that he understood she was special. As Geraldine's only child, he would assume the role of the quiet observer while she guided a live CBC broadcast of a séance; made startling and consistently accurate predictions; and eventually moved to LA to work with the p

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Book SynopsisWant to stop losing your car keys? Will a creative idea into existence? Have more productive arguments with your spouse?   In Your Daily Brain, the team behind Marbles: The Brain Store, a chain devoted to building better brains, shows you all the weird and wonderful ways your brain works throughout the day—even when you think it’s not working at all, like when you’re on the treadmill or picking the kids up from school.   Consider this book a wake-up call, a chance to take a closer look at and jump start your brain. From the minute your alarm clock buzzes in the morning until your head hits the pillow at night, your daily activities—everything from doing a crossword puzzle to parallel parking—are part of a process for how you evaluate the world, make choices and decisions, and reach short-term goals while keeping your eyes on the bigger ones. In each, you have the opportunity to use your brain for better or wor

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Book SynopsisA “rock star” (New York Times) of the computing world provides a radical new work on the meaning of human consciousness.

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Book SynopsisTHE INSPIRATION FOR THE NBC SERIES BRILLIANT MINDS • A Contemporary Classics hardcover edition of Dr. Sacks's most extraordinary book, in which the poet laureate of medicine” (The New York Times) recounts fascinating case histories of patients with neurological disorders.An influential landmark in the tradition of writing about the body and the brain, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.In Dr. Sacks’s splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine’s ultimate responsibility: “the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject.”Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Contemporary Classics include an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times.

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Book SynopsisThe best-selling author of Subliminal and The Drunkard’s Walk teaches you how to tap into the hidden power of your brain.   “Elastic is a book that will help you survive the whirlwind.” —Daniel H. Pink, author of When and A Whole New MindNamed to the 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards Longlist  In this startling and provocative look at how the human mind deals with change, Leonard Mlodinow shows us to unleash the natural abilities we all possess so we can thrive in dynamic and troubled times. Truly original minds capitalize when everyone else struggles. And most of us assume that these abilities are innate, reserved for a select few. But Mlodinow reveals that we all possess them, that we all have encoded in our brains a skill he terms elastic thinking—and he guides us in how to harness it. Drawing on groundbreaking r

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPreface xvii Acknowledgments xix Walkthrough of Pedagogical Features xxi Companion Website xxii Section I: The Neurobiology of Thinking 1 1 Introduction and History 4 Key Themes 4 A Brief (and Selective) History 6 Construct validity in models of cognition 6 Localization of function vs. mass action 7 The first scientifically rigorous demonstrations of localization of function 9 What is a Brain and What Does It Do? 12 Looking Ahead to the Development of Cognitive Neuroscience 13 End-of-Chapter Questions 14 References 14 Other Sources Used 14 Further Reading 15 2 The Brain 16 Key Themes 16 Pep Talk 18 Gross Anatomy 18 The cerebral cortex 21 The Neuron 23 Electrical and chemical properties of the neuron 23 Oscillatory Fluctuations in the Membrane Potential 28 Neurons are never truly “at rest” 28 Oscillatory synchrony 29 Complicated, and Complex 31 End-of-Chapter Questions 32 References 32 Other Sources Used 33 Further Reading 33 3 Methods for Cognitive Neuroscience 34 Key Themes 34 Behavior, Structure, Function, and Models 36 Behavior 36 Neuropsychology, neurophysiology, and the limits of inference 36 Different kinds of neuropsychology address different kinds of questions 37 How does behavior relate to mental functions? 38 Methods for lesioning targeted areas of the brain 39 Nonlocalized trauma 39 Transcranial Neurostimulation 40 The importance of specificity (again) 41 Transcranial magnetic stimulation 43 Anatomy and Cellular Physiology 47 Techniques that exploit the cell biology of the neuron 48 Electrophysiology 51 Invasive recording with microelectrodes: action potentials and local field potentials 51 Electrocorticography 53 Electroencephalography 53 Magnetoencephalography 55 Invasive Neurostimulation 55 Electrical microstimulation 55 Optogenetics 55 Analysis of Time-Varying Signals 56 Event-related analyses 56 Magnetic Resonance Imaging 61 Physics and engineering bases 61 MRI methods for in vivo anatomical imaging 64 Functional magnetic resonance imaging 65 Functional connectivity 70 Resting state functional correlations 70 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy 73 Tomography 73 X-ray computed tomography 73 Positron emission tomography 73 Near-Infrared Spectroscopy 76 Some Considerations For Experimental Design 76 Computational Models and Analytic Approaches 78 Neural network modeling 78 Network science and graph theory 82 End-of-Chapter Questions 84 References 85 Other Sources Used 86 Further Reading 86 Section II: Sensation, Perception, Attention, and Action 87 4 Sensation and Perception of Visual Signals 90 Key Themes 90 The Dominant Sense in Primates 92 Organization of the Visual System 92 The visual field 92 The retina and the LGN of the thalamus 92 The retinotopic organization of primary visual cortex 93 The receptive field 95 Information Processing in Primary Visual Cortex – Bottom-Up Feature Detection 96 The V1 neuron as feature detector 96 Columns, hypercolumns, and pinwheels 99 Information Processing in Primary Visual Cortex – Interactivity 100 Feedforward and feedback projections of V1 100 The relation between visual processing and the brain’s physiological state 104 Where Does Sensation End? Where Does Perception Begin? 106 End-of-Chapter Questions 106 References 107 Other Sources Used 107 Further Reading 108 5 Audition and Somatosensation 109 Key Themes 109 Apologia 111 Audition 111 Auditory sensation 111 Auditory perception 115 Adieu to audition 119 Somatosensation 119 Transduction of mechanical and thermal energy, and of pain 119 Somatotopy 122 Somatosensory plasticity 126 Phantom limbs and phantom pain 129 Proprioception 131 Adieu to sensation 131 End-of-Chapter Questions 131 References 132 Other Sources Used 132 Further Reading 132 6 The Visual System 134 Key Themes 134 Familiar Principles and Processes, Applied to Higher-Level Representations 136 Two Parallel Pathways 136 A diversity of projections from V1 136 A functional dissociation of visual perception of what an object is vs. where it is located 137 Interconnectedness within and between the two pathways 142 The Organization and Functions of the Ventral Visual Processing Stream 144 Hand cells, face cells, and grandmother cells 144 Broader implications of visual properties of temporal cortex neurons 149 A hierarchy of stimulus representation 150 Object-based (viewpoint-independent) vs. image-based (viewpoint-dependent) representation in IT 153 A critical role for feedback in the ventral visual processing stream 153 Taking Stock 158 End-of-Chapter Questions 158 References 159 Other Sources Used 159 Further Reading 160 7 Spatial Cognition and Attention 161 Key Themes 161 Unilateral Neglect: A Fertile Source of Models of Spatial Cognition and Attention 163 Unilateral neglect: a clinicoanatomical primer 163 Hypotheses arising from clinical observations of neglect 164 The Functional Anatomy of the Dorsal Stream 166 Coordinate transformations to guide action with perception 169 From Parietal Space to Medial-Temporal Place 172 Place cells in the hippocampus 173 How does place come to be represented in the hippocampus? 175 The Neurophysiology of Sensory Attention 175 A day at the circus 176 Attending to locations vs. attending to objects 176 Mechanisms of spatial attention 180 Effects of attention on neuronal activity 181 Turning Our Attention to the Future 185 End-of-Chapter Questions 185 References 186 Other Sources Used 186 Further Reading 187 8 Skeletomotor Control 188 Key Themes 188 The Organization of the Motor System 190 The anatomy of the motor system 190 The corticospinal tract 190 The cortico-cerebellar circuit 190 The cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits 192 Functional Principles of Motor Control 193 The biomechanics of motor control 193 Motor cortex 196 The neurophysiology of movement 196 Motor Control Outside of Motor Cortex 202 Parietal cortex: guiding how we move 202 A neurological dissociation between perceiving objects and acting on them 203 Cerebellum: motor learning, balance, . . . and mental representation? 204 Synaptic plasticity 205 Basal ganglia 206 Cognitive Functions of the Motor System 211 Mirror neurons 212 Holding a mirror up to nature? 213 It’s All About Action 214 End-of-Chapter Questions 214 References 215 Other Sources Used 215 Further Reading 216 9 Oculomotor Control and the Control of Attention 218 Key Themes 218 Attention and Action 220 Whys and Hows of Eye Movements 220 Three categories of eye movements 220 The Organization of the Oculomotor System 221 An overview of the circuitry 221 The superior colliculus 222 The posterior system 222 The frontal eye field 223 The supplementary eye field 223 The Control of Eye Movements, and of Attention, In Humans 224 Human oculomotor control 224 Human attentional control 226 The Control of Attention via the Oculomotor System 227 Covert attention 227 Where’s the attentional controller? 230 Are Oculomotor Control and Attentional Control Really the “Same Thing”? 233 The “method of visual inspection” 234 “Prioritized maps of space in human frontoparietal cortex” 235 Of Labels and Mechanisms 238 End-of-Chapter Questions 238 References 238 Other Sources Used 239 Further Reading 240 Section III: Mental Representation 241 10 Visual Object Recognition and Knowledge 243 Key Themes 243 Visual Agnosia 245 Apperceptive agnosia 245 Associative agnosia 245 Computational Models of Visual Object Recognition 247 Two neuropsychological traditions 247 The cognitive neuroscience revolution in visual cognition 249 Category Specificity in the Ventral Stream? 249 Are faces special? 249 Perceptual expertise 251 Evidence for a high degree of specificity for many categories in ventral occipitotemporal cortex 252 Evidence for highly distributed category representation in ventral occipitotemporal cortex 253 Demonstrating necessity 256 The code for facial identity in the primate brain (!?!) 258 Visual Perception as Predictive Coding 261 Playing 20 Questions With the Brain 262 End-of-Chapter Questions 264 References 264 Other Sources Used 265 Further Reading 265 11 Neural Bases of Memory 267 Key Themes 267 Plasticity, Learning, and Memory 269 The Case of H.M. 269 Bilateral medial temporal lobectomy 269 Hippocampus vs. MTL? 272 Association Through Synaptic Modification 273 Long-term potentiation 273 The necessity of NMDA channels for LTM formation 277 How Might the Hippocampus Work? 277 Fast-encoding hippocampus vs. slow-encoding cortex 278 Episodic memory for sequences 279 Episodic memory as an evolutionary elaboration of navigational processing 282 What Are the Cognitive Functions of the Hippocampus? 283 Standard anatomical model 283 Challenges to the standard anatomical model 283 Consolidation 285 Reconsolidation 286 To Consolidate 286 End-of-Chapter Questions 288 References 288 Other Sources Used 289 Further Reading 290 12 Declarative Long-Term Memory 291 Key Themes 291 The Cognitive Neuroscience of LTM 293 Encoding 293 Neuroimaging the hippocampus 293 Incidental encoding into LTM during a short-term memory task 296 The Hippocampus in Spatial Memory Experts 299 Retrieval 299 Retrieval without awareness 300 Documenting contextual reinstatement in the brain 301 Familiarity vs. recollection 303 Knowledge 306 End-of-Chapter Questions 306 References 307 Other Sources Used 308 Further Reading 308 13 Semantic Long-Term Memory 310 Key Themes 310 Knowledge in the Brain 312 Definitions and Basic Facts 312 Category-Specific Deficits Following Brain Damage 313 Animacy, or function? 313 A PDP model of modality specificity 314 The domain-specific knowledge hypothesis 314 How definitive is a single case study? A double dissociation? 315 The Neuroimaging of Knowledge 316 The meaning, and processing, of words 316 An aside about the role of language in semantics and the study of semantics 316 PET scanning of object knowledge 317 Knowledge retrieval or lexical access? 318 Repetition effects and fMRI adaptation 319 The Progressive Loss of Knowledge 321 Primary Progressive Aphasia or Semantic Dementia, Nonverbal deficits in fluent primary progressive aphasia? 322 The locus of damage in fluent primary progressive aphasia? 322 Distal effects of neurodegeneration 324 Entente cordiale 324 Nuance and Challenges 326 End-of-Chapter Questions 326 References 327 Other Sources Used 328 Further Reading 329 14 Working Memory 330 Key Themes 330 “Prolonged Perception” Or “Activated LTM?” 332 Definitions 332 Working Memory and the PFC? The Roots of a Long and Fraught Association 333 Early focus on role of PFC in the control of STM 334 Single-unit delay-period activity in PFC and thalamus 335 Working Memory Capacity and Contralateral Delay Activity 342 The electrophysiology of visual working memory capacity 343 Novel Insights From Multivariate Data Analysis 349 The tradition of univariate analyses 349 MVPA of fMRI 349 Retrospective MVPA of single-unit extracellular recordings 356 Activity? Who Needs Activity? 357 Four-Score and a Handful of Years (and Counting) 360 End-of-Chapter Questions 360 References 360 Other Sources Used 362 Further Reading 362 Section IV: High-Level Cognition 363 15 Cognitive Control 365 Key Themes 365 The Lateral Frontal-Lobe Syndrome 367 Environmental-dependency syndrome 367 Perseveration 368 Electrophysiology of the frontal-lobe syndrome 370 Integration? 371 Models of Cognitive Control 371 Developmental cognitive neuroscience 371 Generalizing beyond development 374 What makes the PFC special? 375 Influence of the DA reward signal on the functions of PFC 376 Neural Activity Relating to Cognitive Control 378 Error monitoring 378 Going Meta 386 Where is the controller? 388 End-of-Chapter Questions 389 References 389 Other Sources Used 390 Further Reading 391 16 Decision Making 392 Key Themes 392 Between Perception and Action 394 Perceptual Decision Making 394 Judging the direction of motion 394 LIP 396 Modeling perceptual decision making 396 Controversy and complications 399 Perceptual decision making in humans 401 Value-Based Decision Making 402 The influence of expected value on activity in LIP 403 Common currency in the omPFC 404 Has neuroeconomics taught us anything about the economics of decision making? 409 Foraging 410 Boys being boys 411 Peer pressure 411 Next Stop 412 End-of-Chapter Questions 412 References 412 Other Sources Used 413 Further Reading 414 17 Social Behavior 415 Key Themes 415 Trustworthiness: A Preamble 417 Delaying gratification: a social influence on a “frontal” class of behaviors 417 The Role of vmPFC in the Control of Social Cognition 418 Phineas Gage 418 Contemporary behavioral neurology 420 Theory of Mind 422 The ToM network 422 The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) 423 False beliefs (?) about Rebecca Saxe’s mind 425 A final assessment of the role of RTPJ in ToM mentalization 429 Observational Learning 430 Predicting the outcome of someone else’s actions 430 Trustworthiness, Revisited 435 End-of-Chapter Questions 435 References 436 Other Sources Used 437 Further Reading 437 18 Emotion 438 Key Themes 438 What is an Emotion? 440 Approach/withdrawal 440 From “feeling words” to neural systems 440 At the nexus of perception and social cognition 440 Trustworthiness Revisited – Again 440 A role for the amygdala in the processing of trustworthiness 441 Implicit information processing by the amygdala 443 The Amygdala 444 Klüver–Bucy syndrome 444 Pavlovian fear conditioning 444 Emotional content in declarative memories 446 The amygdala’s influence on other brain systems 449 The Control of Emotions 450 Extinction 450 How Does That Make You Feel? 455 End-of-Chapter Questions 457 References 458 Other Sources Used 458 Further Reading 459 19 Language 460 Key Themes 460 A System of Remarkable Complexity 462 Wernicke–Lichtheim: The Classical Core Language Network 462 The aphasias 462 The functional relevance of the connectivity of the network 463 Speech Perception 464 Segregation of the speech signal 464 Dual routes for speech processing 468 Grammar 469 Genetics 469 Rules in the brain? 471 Broca’s area 472 The electrophysiology of grammar 475 Speech Production 477 A psycholinguistic model of production 477 Forward models for the control of production 477 Prediction 479 Integration 480 End-of-Chapter Questions 481 References 481 Other Sources Used 483 Further Reading 483 20 Consciousness 485 Key Themes 485 The Most Complex Object in the Universe 487 Different Approaches to the Problem 487 The Physiology of Consciousness 488 Neurological syndromes 488 Sleep 492 Anesthesia 494 Summary across physiological studies 495 Brain Functions Supporting Conscious Perception 495 Are we conscious of activity in early sensory cortex? 497 Manipulating extrinsic factors to study conscious vs. unconscious vision 500 Are Attention and Awareness the Same Thing? 501 Theories of Consciousness 503 Global Workspace Theory 503 Recurrent Processing Theory 505 Integrated Information Theory 506 Updating the Consciousness Graph 508 End-of-Chapter Questions 509 References 509 Other Sources Used 511 Further Reading 511 Glossary G-1 Index I-1

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Book SynopsisOn Getting Better is a thoughtful and compact book about self-improvement from Britain's leading psychoanalyst, author of Missing Out and On Kindness.To talk about getting betterabout wanting to change in ways that we might choose and preferis to talk about pursuing the life we want, in the full knowledge that our pictures of the life we want, of our version of a good life, come from what we have already experienced. (We write the sentences we write because of the sentences we have read.)How can we talk differently about how we might want to change, knowing that all change precipitates us into an uncertain future? In this companion book to On Wanting to Change, Adam Phillips explores how we might get better at talking about what it is to get better.

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Book SynopsisYo-Yo Ma's ear for music emerged not long after he learned to walk. By the age of seven, he was performing for President Kennedy; by fifteen he debuted at Carnegie Hall. Maya Angelou, by contrast, didn't write her iconic memoir, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, until she was 40. What propels some individuals to reach extraordinary creative heights in the earliest years of life while others discover their passions decades later? Are prodigies imbued with innate talent? How often are midlife inspirations triggered by propitious events, like Julia Child's first French meal at the age of 36? Do late bloomers reveal their talents because their skills require life experience and contemplation?   Through engaging storytelling and intriguing historical and cutting-edge scientific research, best-selling author and acclaimed journalist Claudia Kalb explores these questions to uncover what makes a prodigy and what drives a late bloomer. In this series of linked biograp

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking history of the human mind told through our experience of dreams—from the earliest accounts to current scientific findings—and their essential role in the formation of who we are and the world we have made."A resounding case for the mystery, beauty and cognitive importance of dreams." —The New York Times   What is a dream? Why do we dream? How do our bodies and minds use them? These questions are the starting point for this unprecedented study of the role and significance of this phenomenon. An inves­tigation on a grand scale, it encompasses literature, anthropology, religion, and science, articulating the essential place dreams occupy in human culture and how they functioned as the catalyst that compelled us to transform our earthly habitat into a human world.   From the earliest cave paintings—where Sidarta Ribeiro locates a key to humankind’s first dreams and how they contributed to our capacity to perceive past and future and our ability to conceive of the existence of souls and spirits—to today’s cutting-edge scientific research, Ribeiro arrives at revolutionary conclusions about the role of dreams in human existence and evolution. He explores the advances that contempo­rary neuroscience, biochemistry, and psychology have made into the connections between sleep, dreams, and learning. He explains what dreams have taught us about the neural basis of memory and the transfor­mation of memory in recall. And he makes clear that the earliest insight into dreams as oracular has been elucidated by contemporary research.   Accessible, authoritative, and fascinating, The Oracle of Night gives us a wholly new way to under­stand this most basic of human experiences.

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Book SynopsisThe latest installment of The Year in Cognitive Neuroscience series features in-depth reviews of the major issues and emerging topics in cognitive neuroscience, including the role of strategies in motor learning; efficient coding and the neural representation of value; the emotion paradox in the aging brain; perceptual foundations of bilingual acquisition in infancy; understanding disgust; color through the lens of art practice, history, philosophy and neuroscience; functional imaging studies of emotion regulation; and neuropeptides and social recognition NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1749-6632. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

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Book SynopsisOur brains have numerous functioning parts, all of which serve us at any one moment. But decades of research reveal the existence of two basic brain "operating systems" - two fundamental ways in which the whole brain processes incoming information. Because of this phenomenon of brain dominance, most of us tend to favour the input of either our "dualistic" left-brain (which focuses on parts instead of wholes) or our holistic right hemisphere. This means that typically only half of our innate intelligence informs our thinking - and since the left-brain operating system dominates most males, our culture has itself become left-brain dominant. HOW WHOLE BRAIN THINKING CAN SAVE THE FUTURE explores this left-brain bias in our civilisation, revealing it to be the root cause for centuries of war, racism and political polarisation - and eons of misunderstanding between the sexes. While most of our technological and scientific progress is driven by left-brain thinking, the great advances to come will require that we consciously harness both sides of our brain to greatly improve our cognition.Award-winning author, James Olson, goes on to explain how we can achieve greater internal harmony between the two operating systems of the brain - both as individuals and as a culture - thus showing us how and why thinking with our whole brains will lead us to peace and to the ultimate healing of our relationships and our world.

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Book SynopsisThe blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory“Highly entertaining.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker“Funny, curious, erudite, and full of useful details about ancient techniques of training memory.” —The Boston GlobeAn instant bestseller that has now become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top mental athletes. He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human memory. From the United States Memory Championship to deep within the author's own mind, this is an electrifying work of journalism that reminds us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

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Book SynopsisAt the time of its publication, How Language Began received high acclaim for capturing the fascinating history of mankind’s most incredible creation. Deemed a “bombshell” linguist and “instant folk hero” by Tom Wolfe (Harper’s), Daniel L. Everett posits that the near- 7,000 languages that exist today are not only the product of one million years of evolution but also have allowed us to become Earth’s apex predator. Tracing 60,000 generations, Everett debunks long- held theories across a spectrum of disciplines to affi rm the idea that we are not born with an instinct for language. Woven with anecdotes of his nearly forty years of fi eldwork amongst Amazonian hunter- gatherers, this is a “completely enthralling” (Spectator) exploration of our humanity and a landmark study of what makes us human. “[An] ambitious text. . . . Everett’s amiable tone, and especially his captivating anecdotes . . . , will help the neophyte along.”— New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents a comprehensive overview of childhood trauma, considering the psychopathological definition and its neurobiological implications as well as its impact on different psychiatric disorders. The focus on childhood trauma rather than that occurring in adulthood is important due to its general “neuro-psyco-socio” and its specific biological implications, since trauma during childhood impacts directly on neurodevelopment. It has been suggested that early life stress increases vulnerability to psychiatric disorders; however, the exact mechanisms of this association are not yet completely understood. Although childhood trauma could be considered too unspecific to be an important risk factor for individual psychiatric disorders since it seems to occur across the board, it impacts differently on different psychiatric disorders, and it can modulate their clinical expression. Therefore, the assessment of early trauma needs to be included in the clinical evaluation of patients with psychiatric disorders. The volume will be an invaluable tool for psychiatrists, helping them to select suitable pharmacological, psychotherapeutic and rehabilitative treatments.Table of ContentsPART I. GENERAL Chapter 1. Introduction on Childhood Trauma in Mental Disorders, A Comprehensive Approach.- Chapter 2. The Concept of Childhood Trauma in Psychopathology: Definitions and Historical Perspectives.- PART II. NEUROBIOLOGY. Chapter 3. Neuroimaging and Cognition of Early Traumatic Experiences.- Chapter 4. Perinatal Mental Health and Childhood Trauma.- Chapter 5. Electroencephalography and Childhood Trauma.- Chapter 6. Interaction Between Genes and Childhood Trauma on the Outcome of Psychiatric Disorders.- Chapter 7. Childhood Trauma, Attachment Patterns, and Psychopathology: An Evolutionary Analysis.- PART III. NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS. Chapter 8. Childhood Trauma in Bipolar Disorders.- Chapter 9. Childhood Trauma in Depressive Disorders.- Chapter 10. Childhood Trauma in Psychiatric Disorders: Childhood Trauma in Psychoses.- Chapter 11. PTSD During Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Childhood Maltreatment, and How They Relate to Adult PTSD.- Chapter 12. Childhood Trauma and Personality Disorder.- Chapter 13. Childhood Trauma in Psychiatric Disorders: Childhood Trauma and Substance Dependence.- Chapter 14. Childhood Trauma in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.- Chapter 15. Childhood Trauma in Eating Disorders.- Chapter 16. Childhood Trauma and Dissociative Disorders.- Chapter 17. Trauma in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Autism, Intellectual Disability, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.- Chapter 18. Neurobiological Basis of Childhood Trauma and the Risk for Neurological Deficits Later in Life.- PART IV: SOCIAL AND THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS. Chapter 19. Childhood Trauma and Stigma.- Chapter 20. Treatment of Childhood Trauma: Pharmacological Approach.- Chapter 21. Childhood Trauma related Interventions: Treatment at Different Stages Across the Lifespan.

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Book Synopsis

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