Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, how we make decisions, deceive ourselves and dream, perhaps even why we're so clever at philosophy, music and art. Some of his most notable cases:A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial.A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience?A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time.Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier -- the human mind -- yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

    However, with advances in neurobiology and neuroscience, researchers are demonstrating that this position is wrong as they move closer to a lasting understanding of the biology and psychology of emotion. In Affective Neuroscience, Jaak Panksepp provides the most up-to-date information about the brain-operating systems that organize the fundamental emotional tendencies of all mammals. Presenting complex material in a readable manner, the book offers a comprehensive summary of the fundamental neural sources of human and animal feelings, as well as a conceptual framework for studying emotional systems of the brain. Panksepp approaches emotions from the perspective of basic emotion theory but does not fail to address the complex issues raised by constructionist approaches. These issues include relations to human consciousness and the psychiatric implications of this knowledge. The book includes chapters on sleep and arousal, pleasure and fear systems, the sources of rage and anger, and the neural control of sexuality, as well as the more subtle emotions related to maternal care, social loss, and playfulness. Representing a synthetic integration of vast amounts of neurobehavioral knowledge, including relevant neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neurochemistry, this book will be one of the most important contributions to understanding the biology of emotions since Darwins The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.

    We can actually observe a person's brain registering a joke or experiencing a painful memory. Drawing on the latest imaging technology and the expertise of distinguished scientists, Rita Carter explores the geography of the human brain. Her writing is clear, accessible, witty, and the book's 150 illustrations—most in color—present an illustrated guide to that wondrous, coconut-sized, wrinkled gray mass we carry inside our heads.Mapping the Mind charts the way human behavior and culture have been molded by the landscape of the brain. Carter shows how our personalities reflect the biological mechanisms underlying thought and emotion and how behavioral eccentricities may be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. Obsessions and compulsions seem to be caused by a stuck neural switch in a region that monitors the environment for danger. Addictions stem from dysfunction in the brain's reward system. Even the sense of religious experience has been linked to activity in a certain brain region. The differences between men and women's brains, the question of a "gay brain," and conditions such as dyslexia, autism, and mania are also explored.Looking inside the brain, writes Carter, we see that actions follow from our perceptions, which are due to brain activity dictated by a neuronal structure formed from the interplay between our genes and the environment. Without sidestepping the question of free will, Carter suggests that future generations will use our increasing knowledge of the brain to "enhance those mental qualities that give sweetness and meaning to our lives, and to eradicate those that are destructive."

    Drawing on his breakthrough research in comparative neuroscience, Terrence Deacon offers a wealth of insights into the significance of symbolic thinking: from the co-evolutionary exchange between language and brains over two million years of hominid evolution to the ethical repercussions that followed man's newfound access to other people's thoughts and emotions.Informing these insights is a new understanding of how Darwinian processes underlie the brain's development and function as well as its evolution. In contrast to much contemporary neuroscience that treats the brain as no more or less than a computer, Deacon provides a new clarity of vision into the mechanism of mind. It injects a renewed sense of adventure into the experience of being human.

    This volume also features increased coverage of computational modelling, discussions of prominent methodological advances and an enhanced art programme.

    This updated edition of the powerful bestseller examines new research on brain functioning and translates this information into effective classroom strategies and activities.

    What are the peak experiences of enlightenment? How could these states profoundly enhance, and yet simplify, the workings of the brain? Zen and the Brain presents the latest evidence. In this book Zen Buddhism becomes the opening wedge for an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of consciousness. In order to understand which brain mechanisms produce Zen states, one needs some understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain. Austin, both a neurologist and a Zen practitioner, interweaves the most recent brain research with the personal narrative of his Zen experiences. The science is both inclusive and rigorous; the Zen sections are clear and evocative. Along the way, Austin examines such topics as similar states in other disciplines and religions, sleep and dreams, mental illness, consciousness-altering drugs, and the social consequences of the advanced stage of ongoing enlightenment.

     Thousands of people inquire about and buy a competitor to this book each year. Unique layout compared to the competition Text is on the left page with illustration on facing page. A cover flap can cover the illustration's labels for easy self-testing. Up-to-date information covers the latest findings.

    Therapists and healers can use it to increase their personal sensitivity, making their practice more effective. Leaders and teachers can apply these ancient techniques to contemporary problems. All spiritual seekers can use it to bring clarity to their own projection. Everyone can use this book as a personal guide to live each day more authentically and effectively.

    Providing a reference for neuropsychologists, interns, and trainees working in hospitals, this book offers guidance through the decision-making processes of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for all of the most common psychological disorders.

     Biophysics of Computation: Information Processing in Single Neurons challenges this notion, using richly detailed experimental and theoretical findings from cellular biophysics to explain the repertoire of computational functions available to single neurons. The author shows how individual nerve cells can multiply, integrate, or delay synaptic inputs and how information can be encoded in the voltage across the membrane, in the intracellular calcium concentration, or in the timing of individual spikes.Key topics covered include the linear cable equation; cable theory as applied to passive dendritic trees and dendritic spines; chemical and electrical synapses and how to treat them from a computational point of view; nonlinear interactions of synaptic input in passive and active dendritic trees; the Hodgkin-Huxley model of action potential generation and propagation; phase space analysis; linking stochastic ionic channels to membrane-dependent currents; calcium and potassium currents and their role in information processing; the role of diffusion, buffering and binding of calcium, and other messenger systems in information processing and storage; short- and long-term models of synaptic plasticity; simplified models of single cells; stochastic aspects of neuronal firing; the nature of the neuronal code; and unconventional models of sub-cellular computation.Biophysics of Computation: Information Processing in Single Neurons serves as an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in cellular biophysics, computational neuroscience, and neural networks, and will appeal to students and professionals in neuroscience, electrical and computer engineering, and physics.

    Each page uses direct labeling system, including an alphabetical list of terms for each image Presents unrivaled treatment of brain pathways, with colored lines that clearly trace pathways over actual brain slices used earlier in the book Over 400 high quality images, including multiple magnetic resonance images side-by-side with corresponding brain slices Blood supply maps consistently and methodically presented with exhaustive depictions of arteries and blood territory maps next to each brain slice Print edition comes with free access to Wiley companion digital edition accessible on any device, allowing the reader to make notes, bookmark, follow cross references, and download figures

    Thoroughly revised and updated, it includes new material on the thyroid and diabetes mellitus to reflect today's explosive increase in knowledge. Written by an outstanding team of authors, the 10th edition features numerous new authors who provide fresh perspectives.Presents a wealth of clinical information in a manageable size and formatContributors are at the forefronts of their disciplinesServes as a bridge between basic science and clinical endocrinologyDiabetes mellitus and it complications has been greatly expanded and now includes 3 separate chapters.4 new chaptersTwo new editors provide a fresh perspective on the materialFigures have been added to the Diabetes Mellitus chaptersMuch of the art has been revised and includes new algorithms in many chaptersAccess to abstracts is available through MedlineWith 71 expert contributors

    Addressing instructor and student feedback on the previous edition, all of the chapters are rewritten to make this book more concise and student-friendly than ever before. Each chapter is once again heavily illustrated and provides clinical boxes describing experiments, disorders, and methodological approaches and concepts.Capturing the promise and excitement of this fast-moving field, Fundamental Neuroscience, 3rd Edition is the text that students will be able to reference throughout their neuroscience careers!

    Hoffman aptly demonstrates the mysterious constructive powers of our eye-brain machines using lots of simple drawings and diagrams to illustrate basic rules of the visual road. Many of the examples are familiar optical illusions--perspective-confounding cubes, a few lines that add up to a more complex shape than seems right. Hoffman also takes a cue from Oliver Sacks, employing anecdotes about people with various specific visual malfunctions to both further his mechanical explanation of visual intelligence and drive home how important this little-understood aspect of cognition can be in our lives. An especially intriguing example involves a boy, blind from birth, who is surgically given the power to see. At first, he is completely unable to visually distinguish objects familiar by touch, such as the cat and the dog. Other poignant examples show clearly how image construction is normally linked to our emotional well-being and sense of place. Visual Intelligence is a fascinating, confounding look (as it were) at an aspect of human physiology and psychology that very few of us think about much at all. --Therese Littleton

    However, what lies beneath these words usually has a beautiful simplicity, and it is the aim of The First Steps in Seeing to describe how we see in a manner that is understandable to all.In this book, the use of technical terms is restricted, and several hundred full-color illustrations ensure that the terms that are used are associated with a picture, icon, or graph that visually expresses their meaning. Experimental findings have been recast in terms of the natural world wheneverpossible, and broad themes bring together lines of thought that are often treated separately.Fourteen main chapters form a thread that tells the main scientific story and can be read without specialized knowedge or reliance on other sources. This thread is linked to fourteen discussions which explore certain crucial topics in greater depth. Notes link the material presented in the threadand in the special topics discussions to important review articles and seminal research papers.The First Steps in Seeing is an innovative, authoritative work that belongs in the library of anyone with an interest in visual perception.

    This volume brings together current research on these important regions of the brain, examining their functions in both health and disease. Significant findings on anatomy, chemistry, and physiology are first presented. Next, chapters address such neuropsychological functions as working memory, attention, inhibition, idea and word generation, and language, tracing their links to the frontal lobes and describing new and established approaches to assessment and testing. Proceeding to clinical manifestations of pathology, contributors examine the impact upon the frontal lobes of tumors, trauma, and various neurological diseases, and explore the role of frontal lobe dysfunction in psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and antisocial behavior.

    Problems that follow such injuries are analyzed in detail; these include loss of self-care skills, memory impairment, and language, reading, visuoperceptual and behavioral difficulties. The chapters describe the lifestyle of each individual before the onset of brain damage and the subsequent symptoms, neuropsychological assessment, rehabilitation, and long-term outcome of their condition. Most chapters include a report by the patient and/or family member, thus enhancing the reader's understanding of the predicaments faced by brain-injured individuals as they learn to cope with traumatic changes in lifestyle. Although improvement for those with severe brain injuries is slow and limited, the patients described in the book made some progress after their admission to rehabilitation services. The exhaustive analysis of each case and a step-by-step description of management will serve as an inspiring and informative guide for students, professionals and other caregivers.

    It includes a detailed description of a wide variety of voice experiences, an overview of theories which attempt to explain why they occur and a comprehensive set of practical strategies for dealing with unwanted or disturbing voices.

    and Patricia S. Churchland are towering figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness. This collection was prepared in the belief that the most useful and revealing of anyone's writings are often those shorter essays penned in conflict with or criticism of one's professional colleagues. The essays present the Churchlands' critical responses to a variety of philosophical positions advanced by some two dozen philosophical theorists. The book is divided into three parts: part I, Folk Psychology and Eliminative Materialism; part II, Meaning, Qualia, and Emotion: The Several Dimensions of Consciousness; and part III, the Philosophy of Science. V. S. Ramachandran and Rick Grush are coauthors on two of the essays.

    Unable to work, Nancy, with her husband, moved from Toronto to rural west Canada, where a lifestyle free of urban pollutants helped her slowly to rebuild her health. Nancy's struggle is also the spiritual struggle of the planet. To explore the connections between the state of our bodies and souls and the condition of the earth, she interviewed four leading thinkers, each with a unique perspective on spiritual health: Laurens van der Post, African explorer and journalist; Marion Woodman, psychologist and best-selling author; Ross Woodman, expert on Blake and the Romantic poets; Thomas Berry, theologian and cultural historian. These thought-provoking conversations, woven with Nancy's own search for answers, shine beacons of hope for personal and planetary healing.