Physiological psychology Books

Book SynopsisFrom the best-selling author of Gratitude and On the Move, a final volume of essays that showcase Sacks's broad range of interests—from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.Oliver Sacks, scientist and storyteller, is beloved by readers for his neurological case histories and his fascination and familiarity with human behavior at its most unexpected and unfamiliar. Everything in Its Place is a celebration of Sacks's myriad interests, told with his characteristic compassion and erudition, and in his luminous prose.

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Book SynopsisAll students and researchers of behaviour from those observing freely-behaving animals in the field to those conducting more controlled laboratory studies face the problem of deciding what exactly to measure. Without a scientific framework on which to base them, however, such decisions are often unsystematic and inconsistent. Providing a clear and defined starting point for any behavioural study, this is the first book to make available a set of principles for how to study the organisation of behaviour and, in turn, for how to use those insights to select what to measure. The authors provide enough theory to allow the reader to understand the derivation of the principles, and draw on numerous examples to demonstrate clearly how the principles can be applied. By providing a systematic framework for selecting what behaviour to measure, the book lays the foundations for a more scientific approach for the study of behaviour.Trade Review'Describing what animals actually do in their normal daily activities was deemed essential by the early naturalists and ethologists. Today, many journals actively discourage publishing such research findings. What the Pellis team accomplishes in this book is to document, based on their and others' extensive experience and accomplishments, that careful description can itself be hypothesis driven and answer research questions that experiments with simple, but convenient, dependent measures cannot. This compact guide elegantly shows how to use modern methods to describe and quantify behaviour and embed findings in the behaviour systems in which they occur. From seemingly simple behaviour patterns such as righting, huddling, and reaching, to fighting, foraging, play, and courtship, the authors provide myriad insights and research guidance. Today, in a rapidly changing world, it is more essential than ever to study how the behaviour of animals is being altered, both in natural communities and in experimental laboratories.' Gordon M. Burghardt, University of Tennessee, USA'The Pellis' little book is a big gift box in which you'll find a trove of crafted ideas and handy examples of how behaviour can be analysed in ways that reveal marvellous, unsuspected dimensions of behavioural organisation. Using some of the “simplest” and most common individual and social acts in animal behaviour, they offer observational and analytic tools for seeing the deep structure of behaviour and how, in some cases, their approach can take us into the brain or out to emergent levels of organisation. Practical for students and researchers, and delightful for science-oriented fans of organisms. Put it on your shelf for repeated openings and explorations.' Jeffrey R. Alberts, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA'… a fascinating new way of considering animal behavior … This would be a most useful text for any student or researcher of animal behaviors … Highly recommended.' D. C. Marston, Choice MagazineTable of ContentsPreface; Acknowledgements; 1. What is the problem and what is the solution?; 2. Behaviour as a means, not an end; 3.The deep structure of behavior; 4. The brain is not alone; 5. Bringing it all together: steps in the descriptive process; 6. What of the future?; Epilogue; Appendix A. Eshkol–Wachman movement notation and descriptive analysis; Appendix B. Practice, practice, practice; References; Index.

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Book Synopsis1. A Sneak preview of the Journey Ahead2. A Disciplined Demolition Project3. You ' 're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat4. The Cogwheels of Culture5. The Mind ' 's New Tricks6. Prophets of Design Space7. The Brain ' 's Design Studio8. Flow Experiences: From Mystery to Mechanisms9. In Search of the Artificer Trade Review"Once again, Arne Dietrich proves that he is one of the brightest thinkers on the planet. With great insight, clarity and humor, How Creativity Happens In The Brain gives us a much needed breakdown of the neuroscientific hows and whys of creativity. This book is fantastic-a must read!" - Steven Kotler, a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and cofounder and director of research for the Flow Genome Project "In this brilliantly original book, Arne Dietrich ruthlessly demolishes all the nonsense about "left brains" and "divergent thinking," and sets out a bold new theory of creativity. Written with verve and panache, this is a must read for anyone interested in how brains generate new ideas." - Dylan Evans, author of Risk Intelligence and Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine "For those of us getting claustrophobic in the super-heated sauna of pop-culture pontifications on creativity and how to maximize it in our lives, Arne Dietrich's new, groundbreaking book is a welcome, bracing plunge into the icy waters of clear thinking. Dietrich begins with a passionate, neurolingo free de-construction of the multiple theories of creativity prevailing today, including those held in the mostly lofty academic circles. This would be reason enough to make this an important book. But the author goes on to offer a new approach, one that takes seriously the thorough distribution of creativity in the brain and its multifaceted processes. His is an evolutionary paradigm, long familiar from other scholarly domains, with a variation-selection process at its core. Most simply stated: the brain produces (creative) mental models based on predictive processing, tests them, and selects. Dietrich's writing style is both accessible and leavened by a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. All in all, this makes for a great - and transformative - read." Gary Vikan, former Director of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA 'This is a remarkable book, coming from the guy doing the best work on the brain and creativity. Dietrich describes the role of the brain in creativity and clearly identifies what can and cannot be said about the neural basis of creative thinking. He is so right in saying that hundreds of books offer methods and even "results" about creativity, but most of what is available is bunk. It is easy to be misled because many books are written by "brain experts," but most do not know the creativity research. Others are written by creativity experts, but they are not knowledgeable about the brain. This is the first book that draws from both fields, accurately separating the trustworthy from the unreliable. Dietrich identifies what appears to be the central process occurring in the brain that leads to creative behavior ("ideational combination"). He accomplishes a great deal, and yet does it while minimizing impenetrable neurolingo and cumbersome academese. If you are interested in reliable information about the brain and creativity, this book is for you.' - Mark Runco, Editor, Creativity Research JournalTable of Contents1. A Sneak preview of the Journey Ahead2. A Disciplined Demolition Project3. You ' 're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat4. The Cogwheels of Culture5. The Mind ' 's New Tricks6. Prophets of Design Space7. The Brain ' 's Design Studio8. Flow Experiences: From Mystery to Mechanisms9. In Search of the Artificer

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Book SynopsisOften seen as supernatural, unpredictable, illusory and possibly dangerous, ESP, telepathy, clairvoyance and other parapsychological activities are actually happening all the time and help us make sense of everyday experiences. First Sight provides a new way of understanding such experiences and describes a way of thinking about the unconscious mind that makes it clear that these abilities are not rare and anomalous, but instead are used by all of us all the time, unconsciously and efficiently.Drawing upon a broad array of studies in contemporary psychology, the author integrates a new model for understanding these unusual abilities with the best research in psychology on problems as diverse as memory, perception, personality, creativity and fear. In doing so, he illustrates how the field of parapsychology, which, historically, has been riddled with confusion, skepticism and false claims, can move from the edges of science to its center, where it will offer fascinating new knowledge abTrade Review"In First Sight, Dr. James Carpenter shows that there is nothing 'para' about paranormal abilities; they are a normal, natural, and vital part of the human endowment on which we continually rely. In this important book, Carpenter has given us a new vision of what it means to be human. Highly recommended." -- Larry Dossey, M.D., author, Reinventing Medicine and The Power Of Premonitions“First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Everyday Life is written from James Carpenter’s unique dual perspective as both a respected research scientist and a practicing psychotherapist. It is an exciting and elegantly written book that simultaneously makes a major theoretical contribution to the science of psychic functioning while providing an accurate, non-technical overview of the field accessible to the interested general reader.” -- Daryl J. Bem, professor emeritus of psychology, Cornell University“Beyond the sixth sense and before second sight there simmers a more fundamental First Sight. In this radical reframing of the meaning and mechanisms of psychic phenomena, James Carpenter proposes that where the edges of mind and matter meet all distinctions between inner and outer, subjectivity and objectivity, disappear. First Sight reigns in this strange place where everyday reality blurs, and it is here where extrasensory perception and other psychic effects suddenly make a good deal of sense. A refreshingly novel approach to understanding psychic phenomena.” -- Dean Radin, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences"Psychic abilities like ESP are usually treated as great mysteries, either to be desperately and illogically explained away since they don't fit into our predominant materialistic world view, or embraced uncritically as a prop for unexamined personal belief systems. While we still don't have (and perhaps won't ever have) a simple, physicalistic explanation for psychic abilities, we have a lot of psychological data on what effects it and how it fits in with the psychology of our minds. This data has been pretty scattered and unconnected, though, so Carpenter's book is a brilliant integration of what we know. I'm supposed to be an expert on the subject, but I know this book is going to take me in whole new directions!" -- Charles T. Tart, professor emeritus of psychology, University of California, DavisThis book is an extremely stimulating alternative to current models of explanation for paranormal phenomena represent, and the book also offers a wide-ranging. . .overview of selected fields of experimental parapsychological research of the last half century. This alone makes it already a worthwhile purchase that should be in every bookcase a parapsychological interested reader. * Zeitschrift für Anomalistik *First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Daily Life makes an enormous contribution to parapsychology—and an even greater contribution to psychology. It belongs in every medical and psychology library. I would love to use this book as a text in a graduate psychology course. Research ideas and hypotheses jump from the pages. . . . Carpenter’s First Sight is an intellectual tour de force that deserves a place in the pantheon of groundbreaking scientific works. * Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing *Scientifically minded readers will quickly gravitate to First Sight. Carpenter's thorough and technical analysis on a paradoxical topic sheds refreshing enlightenment not only in the field of parapsychology, but also a clearer understanding of the psychic experience in our daily lives. * San Francisco Book Review *First Sight surely has a place in the future of parapsychology. . . .[I]t is always impressive, and often intriguing, putting it in a league of its own, but hinting at the possibility that only the more serious and able-bodied academics will take it on. First Sight is handsomely presented; the editing and proof-reading is exceptional, leaving a lot to be desired in other textbooks of the same calibre. It is a top-quality book in more ways than one, and a must for any serious parapsychologist. * Australian Journal of Parapsychology *Table of ContentsPreface Section I: A Point of View 1: A New Conception Guided by Two Analogies 2: A Model and a Theory of Psi Section II: Elaborations of the Model and the Theory 3: A Model of the Mind and of the Place of Psi in Mental Functioning 4: Psi and Consciousness 5: The Vicissitudes of the Extrasensory: To Be Known or Not to Be Known 59 6: Some Implicit Assumptions That Need to Be Changed 7: Psychokinesis: First Sight and First Act 8: Precursors of the Model 9: A Reiteration of Essential Points Section III: Psi and Other Preconscious Processes 10: Psi and Ambiguous or Unconscious Sensory Information 11: Psi and Memory: Are the Processes Similar? 12: Psi and Memory: How Do They Affect One Another? 13: Psi and Creativity Section IV: First Sight and Other Research Findings 14: Fear and Psi 15: Extraversion and Psi 16: Other Individual and Situational Factors 17: Two Vexing Problems: Experimenter Effects and Decline Effects Section V: First Sight beyond the Laboratory 18: Ordinary Nonpsychic Experience 19: The More Psychic Person 20: First Sight and Personal Exploration of Psi 21: First Sight in the Consulting Room Section VI: Prospects for Parapsychology 22: Recent Research Pertinent to First Sight 23: Applications of First Sight 24: Suggested Directions for Future Research 25: First Sight, Parapsychology, and Other Branches of Science 26: Psi and a New Science of the Mind Acknowledgments References Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisThe Handbook of Stress: Neuropsychological Effects on the Brain is an authoritative guide to the effects of stress on brain health, with a collection of articles that reflect the most recent findings in the field. Presents cutting edge findings on the effects of stress on brain health Examines stress influences on brain plasticity across the lifespan, including links to anxiety, PTSD, and clinical depression Features contributions by internationally recognized experts in the field of brain health Serves as an essential reference guide for scholars and advanced students Table of ContentsList of Contributors x Foreword xiv Robert Sapolsky Preface xvi Acknowledgments xix List of Abbreviations xx Part I Basics of the Stress Response 1 1 The Basics of the Stress Response: A Historical Context and Introduction 3 Kenneth J. Thiel and Michael N. Dretsch 2 Central Nervous System Regulation of the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis Stress Response 29 James P. Herman 3 Corticosteroid Receptor Involvement in the Stress Response 47 E. Ronald de Kloet, Roel H. DeRijk, and Onno C. Meijer 4 Nongenomic Cellular Actions of Corticosteroids in the Brain 76 Marian Joëls, Femke Groeneweg, and Henk Karst 5 Stress Effects on the Brain: Intracellular Signaling Cascades, Epigenetic Mechanisms, and Implications for Behavior 95 Johannes M. H. M. Reul, Andrew Collins, and María Gutièrrez-Mecinas 6 Mechanisms of Glucocorticoid Receptor Regulation of Gene Expression 113 Alyson B. Scoltock and John A. Cidlowski Part II Stress Influences on Brain Plasticity and Cognition 135 7 Stress and Adult Neurogenesis 137 Timothy J. Schoenfeld and Elizabeth Gould 8 Neurobiological Basis of the Complex Effects of Stress on Memory and Synaptic Plasticity 157 Phillip R. Zoladz, Collin R. Park, and David M. Diamond 9 Acute Glucocorticoids Interact with Arousal State in Regulating Long-term Memory Formation 179 Patrizia Campolongo and Benno Roozendaal 10 Chronic Stress Effects on Corticolimbic Morphology 201 Cara L. Wellman 11 Effects of Chronic Stress on Memory and Neuroplasticity: Animal Studies 230 Carmen Sandi 12 Stress and Glucocorticoid Effects on Learning and Memory: Human Studies 248 Marie-France Marin and Sonia J. Lupien Part III Stress Effects Across the Life Span 267 13 Adolescence and Stress: From Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Function to Brain Development 269 Russell D. Romeo and Ilia N. Karatsoreos 14 Effect of Early Environment and Separation Animal Models on Neurobiological Development 285 Allison Jane Fulford 15 Clinical Implications of Childhood Stress 304 Linda J. Luecken, Danielle S. Roubinov, and Catherine Purdom 16 Chronic Stress and Hippocampus Vulnerability to Functional Changes and Health in the Adult 324 Cheryl D. Conrad 17 Stress and Aging: A Question of Resilience with Implications for Disease 349 Erik B. Bloss, John H. Morrison, and Bruce S. McEwen Part IV Stress Involvement in Anxiety, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Depression 367 18 Social Stress Effects on Defensive Behavior and Anxiety 369 Brandon L. Pearson, D. Caroline Blanchard, and Robert J. Blanchard 19 Stress and Animal Models of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 388 Hagit Cohen, Gal Richter-Levin, and Joseph Zohar 20 What Can Fear Conditioning Tell Us About Posttraumatic Stress Disorder? 410 Jacek Dębiec and Joseph E. LeDoux 21 Stress and Glucocorticoid Effects on Memory: Implications for Anxiety Disorders 426 Dominique J.-F. de Quervain 22 Stress and Human Neuroimaging Studies 446 J. Douglas Bremner 23 Chronic Stress and Depression 463 Eberhard Fuchs and Gabriele Flügge 24 How Can Stress Alter Emotional Balance Through Its Interaction with the Serotonergic System? 480 Raymond Mongeau, Michel Hamon, and Laurence Lanfumey 25 Stress, Prefrontal Cortex Asymmetry, and Depression 505 Ron M. Sullivan and François Laplante Part V Stress, Coping, Predisposition, and Sex Differences 525 26 Chronic Stress and Sex Differences on Cognition: Animal Studies 527 Victoria N. Luine 27 Effects of Stress on Learning and Memory: Evidence for Sex Differences in Humans 545 Oliver T. Wolf 28 Infl uence of Diet on Stress Response and Behavior 560 Efthymia Kitraki 29 Influence of Appraisal and Coping Following Extreme Stress 578 Miranda Olff Name Index 597 Subject Index 664

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Book SynopsisContinual improvements in data collection and processing have had a huge impact on brain research, producing data sets that are often large and complicated. By demonstrating the commonality among various statistical approaches the authors provide the crucial tools for gaining knowledge from diverse types of data.Trade ReviewThis is an outstanding book, that fills a real need. Assuming no background in statistics, it covers the data analysis methods neuroscientists need to know, from standard material like hypothesis tests, to specialized methods that have recently found use in our field. It has the detail and insight needed for those developing their own statistical methods. And for the working neurobiologist it has plenty of practical tricks, tips, and examples, coming straight from the experts. This book is a must for anyone serious about quantitative analysis in neuroscience. Kenneth D. Harris, Professor of Quantitative Neuroscience, University College London Analysis of Neural Data is a thorough, authoritative textbook on the fastest growing statistical field. All relevant topics are covered in depth with examples from the literature and thoughtful comments. Particularly welcome is the discussion of multivariate statistics, time series and Bayesian methods, topics frequently encountered in neuroscience research but infrequently discussed in standard statistics textbooks. A highly readable, useful and commendable textbook! Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, Regents Professor of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota This book is a unique and valuable resource for any scientist who wants to approach neural data analysis in a rigorous fashion, or to gain a broad overview of modern statistical concepts and approaches. While the book is an eminently practical guide, it is far from a cookbook. The individual who is willing to invest the time to read it will be deeply rewarded not only with everyday methodological guidance, but also, with a comprehensive understanding of the mathematical foundations of statistics. The first chapter, in which the authors lucidly present a perspective on what statistics has to offer, should be required reading for all neuroscientists - or at least, all who care about data. The authors have met the difficult and competing challenges of creating a book that is both practical and rigorous. To do this, they combine a crisp writing style with a number of helpful strategies, including the use of many carefully-chosen examples from the neuroscience literature, and vivid reminders of the difference between the world of mathematical objects and the world of data. Mathematical concepts that are typically omitted from elementary texts are not avoided, but are discussed in a way that makes their relevance evident...The book is a one-of-a-kind resource that combines practicality, rigor, and accessibility; it is a book that was sorely needed and is an extremely valuable reference. Jonathan D. Victor, Fred Plum Professor, Brain and Mind Research Institute and Department of Neurology, Weill Cornell Medical College Analysis of Neural Data provides an invaluable guide for neuroscientists seeking to summarize and interpret their data. The authors -- leading statisticians who have developed and applied many of the methods they describe themselves - are also outstanding teachers, and the treatment they provide is at once accessible, authoritative, comprehensive, and up-to-date. The book provides a carefully structured introduction to statistical methods for students at the beginning of their research careers as well as a treatment of several advanced methods that will be of value to practicing researchers. James L. McClelland, Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Director, Center for Mind, Brain and Computation, Stanford University Written by eminent statisticians, this book covers a range of topics from basic mathematics to state-of-the-art statistical analyses of neural data. Researchers conducting experiments will learn the principles of data analysis and will begin analyzing data using the methods provided. Theoreticians will be introduced to more than 100 intriguing experiments that will teach them to form persuasive interpretations. Analysis of Neural Data should become a standard reference for neuroscience research. Shigeru Shinomoto, Department of Physics, Kyoto UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction.- Exploring Data.- Probability and Random Variables.- Random Vectors.- Important Probability Distributions.- Sequences of Random Variables.- Estimation and Uncertainty.- Estimation in Theory and Practice.- Uncertainty and the Bootstrap.- Statistical Significance.- General Methods for Testing Hypotheses.- Linear Regression.- Analysis of Variance.- Generalized Regression.- Nonparametric Regression.- Bayesian Methods.- Multivariate Analysis.- Time Series.- Point Processes.- Appendix: Mathematical Background.- Example Index.- Index.- Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisNeuropsychosocial Integration: A Practical Approach to Discharging Trauma and Recovering the Authentic Self explores the incidence of psychosocial trauma in ordinary life as it persists across generations. From the Latin word to make whole, integration speaks to wholesomeness in the body and mind and authenticity in the self that is presented to the world. A manifestation of psychosocial trauma, thus, is disintegration in the self and in between the body and mind that brings suffering. A suffering that, the book argues, can be met with a quiver of metaphorical spears with which integration can be recovered along with authenticity in the self and wellbeing in the body and mind. The book is written for a diverse audience, as it speaks to the experience of two thirds of us who come to ordinary life having been exposed in some way to adverse lived experiences and protracted psychosocial stress that leave us wounded, and the seventy-five percent of us who respond well to therapy through which we recover from our woundedness and lead more fulfilling lives. This scope holds a specific appeal for graduate-student trauma researchers, therapists, clinicians, as well as lay individuals exploring their own traumas.

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Book SynopsisNeuropsychosocial Integration: A Practical Approach to Discharging Trauma and Recovering the Authentic Self explores the incidence of psychosocial trauma in ordinary life as it persists across generations. From the Latin word to make whole, integration speaks to wholesomeness in the body and mind and authenticity in the self that is presented to the world. A manifestation of psychosocial trauma, thus, is disintegration in the self and in between the body and mind that brings suffering. A suffering that, the book argues, can be met with a quiver of metaphorical spears with which integration can be recovered along with authenticity in the self and wellbeing in the body and mind. The book is written for a diverse audience, as it speaks to the experience of two thirds of us who come to ordinary life having been exposed in some way to adverse lived experiences and protracted psychosocial stress that leave us wounded, and the seventy-five percent of us who respond well to therapy through which we recover from our woundedness and lead more fulfilling lives. This scope holds a specific appeal for graduate-student trauma researchers, therapists, clinicians, as well as lay individuals exploring their own traumas.

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