Daniel J. Siegel presents a groundbreaking new way of thinking about the emergence of the human mind, and the process by which each of us becomes a feeling, thinking, remembering individual. Illuminating how and why neurobiology matters, this book is essential reading for clinicians, educators, researchers, and students interested in human experience and development across the life span.

    Literate and authoritative--.Marvelously exciting." --The New York Times Book ReviewJonathan Weiner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Beak of the Finch, brings his brilliant reporting skills to the story of Seymour Benzer, the Brooklyn-born maverick scientist whose study of genetics and experiments with fruit fly genes has helped revolutionize or knowledge of the connections between DNA and behavior both animal and human.How much of our fate is decided before we are born?  Which of our characteristics is inscribed in our DNA? Weiner brings us into Benzer's Fly Rooms at the California Institute of Technology, where Benzer, and his asssociates are in the process of finding answers, often astonishing ones, to these questions. Part biography, part thrilling scientific detective story, Time, Love, Memory forcefully demonstrates how Benzer's studies are changing our world view--and even our lives.

    But a large segment of the population, many of them Catholic, are so afraid of sin that their lives are marked with anxiety and fear. These people suffer from an affliction called scrupulosity. Rather than experiencing faith as a source of peace, scrupulous individuals can't seem to shake their feelings of impending doom, disappointment, and eventual condemnation. Based on thirty-five years of questions and answers to the Scrupulous Anonymous newsletter, this book provides specific answers to questions and concerns related to sin, confession, self-worth, sexuality, prayer, God's forgiveness, thoughts, dreams, fantasies, and other issues. It offers words of encouragement and helpful suggestions to those who suffer from this affliction and for those who counsel them. Paperback

    The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (MITECS) is a landmark, comprehensive reference work that represents the methodological and theoretical diversity of this changing field. At the core of the encyclopedia are 471 concise entries, from Acquisition and Adaptationism to Wundt and X-bar Theory. Each article, written by a leading researcher in the field, provides an accessible introduction to an important concept in the cognitive sciences, as well as references or further readings. Six extended essays, which collectively serve as a roadmap to the articles, provide overviews of each of six major areas of cognitive science: Philosophy; Psychology; Neurosciences; Computational Intelligence; Linguistics and Language; and Culture, Cognition, and Evolution. For both students and researchers, MITECS will be an indispensable guide to the current state of the cognitive sciences.

    It is the first comprehensive textbook on vision to reflect the integrated computational approach of modern research scientists. This new interdisciplinary approach, called vision science, integrates psychological, computational, and neuroscientific perspectives.The book covers all major topics related to vision, from early neural processing of image structure in the retina to high-level visual attention, memory, imagery, and awareness. The presentation throughout is theoretically sophisticated yet requires minimal knowledge of mathematics. There is also an extensive glossary, as well as appendices on psychophysical methods, connectionist modeling, and color technology. The book will serve not only as a comprehensive textbook on vision, but also as a valuable reference for researchers in cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, optometry, and philosophy.

    All over the world scientists, psychologists, and philosophers are waiting to read Antonio Damasio's new theory of the nature of consciousness and the construction of the self. A renowned and revered scientist and clinician, Damasio has spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness. In his bestselling Descartes' Error, Damasio revealed the critical importance of emotion in the making of reason. Building on this foundation, he now shows how consciousness is created. Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. A hymn to the possibilities of human existence, a magnificent work of ingenious science, a gorgeously written book, The Feeling of What Happens is already being hailed as a classic.

    He shows how plants and animals (including humans) have evolved together as components of a worldwide learning machine. He describes the network of life on Earth as one that is, in fact, a complex adaptive system, a global brain in which each of us plays a sometimes conscious, sometimes unknowing role. and he reveals that the World Wide Web is just the latest step in the development of this brain. These are theories as important as they are radical. Informed by twenty years of interdisciplinary research, Bloom takes us on a spellbinding journey back to the big bang to let us see how its fires forged primordial sociality. As he brings us back via surprising routes, we see how our earliest bacterial ancestors built multitrillion-member research and development teams a full 3.5 billion years ago. We watch him unravel the previously unrecognized strands of interconnectedness woven by crowds of trilobites, hunting packs of dinosaurs, feathered flying lizards gathered in flocks, troops of baboons making communal decisions, and adventurous tribes of protohumans spreading across continents but still linked by primitive forms of information networking. We soon find ourselves reconsidering our place in the world. Along the way, Bloom offers us exhilarating insights into the strange tricks of body and mind that have organized a variety of life forms: spiny lobsters, which, during the Paleozoic age, participated in communal marching rituals; and bees, which, during the age of dinosaurs, conducted collective brainwork. This fascinating tour continues on to the sometimes brutal subculture wars that have spurred the growth of human civilization since the Stone Age. Bloom shows us how culture shapes our infant brains, immersing us in a matrix of truth and mass delusion that we think of as reality.Global Brain is more than just a brilliantly original contribution to the ongoing debate on the inner workings of evolution. It is a grand vision, says the eminent evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, a work that transforms our very view of who we are and why.

    In The Mind Within the Net, Manfred Spitzer shows how these models can fundamentally change how we think about learning, creativity, thinking, and acting, as well as such matters as schools, retirement homes, politics, and mental disorders.Neurophysiology has told us a lot about how neurons work; neural network theory is about how neurons work together to process information. In this highly readable book, Spitzer provides a basic, nonmathematical introduction to neural networks and their clinical applications. Part I explains the fundamental theory of neural networks and how neural network models work. Part II covers the principles of network functioning and how computer simulations of neural networks have profound consequences for our understanding of how the brain works. Part III covers applications of network models (e.g., to knowledge representation, language, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease) that shed new light on normal and abnormal states of mind. Finally, Spitzer concludes with his thoughts on the ramifications of neural networks for the understanding of neuropsychology and human nature.

    Glynn writes with exceptional clarity as he illuminates the mechanics of nerve messages; the functioning of sensory receptors; the processes by which the brain sees, tastes, and smells; the seats of language, memory, and emotions. The breadth of Glynn's erudition is astonishing, as he ranges from parallel processing in computers to the specialization of different regions of the brain (illustrated with fascinating instances of the bizarre effects of localized brain damage). He explains the different types of memory, traces the path of information that leads to emotional responses, and engages in a discussion of language that ranges from Noam Chomsky to Hawaiian pidgin. No other single volume has captured the full expanse of our knowledge of consciousness and the brain. A work of unequaled authority and eloquence, this book promises to be a new landmark of scientific writing. Monumental.--The Observer Glynn's erudition is astonishing...a hugely enjoyable intellectual journey.--Nature

    Allan Hobson sets out a compelling--and controversial--theory of consciousness. Our brain-mind, as he calls it, is not a fixed identity but a dynamic balancing act between the chemical systems that regulate waking and dreaming.With a new foreword by the author.In this book, J. Allan Hobson sets out a compelling--and controversial--theory of consciousness. Our brain-mind, as he calls it, is not a fixed identity but a dynamic balancing act between the chemical systems that regulate waking and dreaming. Drawing on his work both as a sleep researcher and as a psychiatrist, Hobson looks in particular at the strikingly similar chemical characteristics of the states of dreaming and psychosis. His underlying theme is that the form of our thoughts, emotions, dreams, and memories derive from specific nerve cells and electrochemical impulses described by neuroscientists. Among the questions Hobson explores are: What are dreams? Do they have any hidden meaning, or are they simply emotionally salient images whose peculiar narrative structure refects the unique neurophysiology of sleep? And what is the relationship between the delirium of our dream life and psychosis?Originally published by Little, Brown under the title The Chemistry of Conscious States.

     Using a range of examples from artists including Rembrandt, Vermeer, Magritte, Mondrian, and Picasso, Zeki takes the reader on an illuminating tour of the way the brain sees, showing how its visual processing shapes art and our response to it. Vision, he writes, is designed to gather knowledge about the world around us, breaking down visual images into their basic components. He describes in fascinating detail how different areas of the brain respond to the basic visual elements, such as color, form, line, and motion, which are also basic elements of art. He further argues that all visual art is expressed through the brain and, whether the artist realizes it or not, must therefore mirror the workings of the brain. Beauty may not be in the eye of the beholder, strictly speaking, but it most certainly is in the brain of the beholder. And Zeki argues that no theory of aesthetics will be complete unless it is substantially based on the activity of the brain. Beautifully illustrated and vividly written, Inner Vision takes an important first step toward providing a scientific theory of aesthetics.

    It is within these highly complex, branching structures that the real work of the nervous system takes place. The dendrites of neurons receive thousands of synaptic inputs from other neurons. However, dendrites do more than simply collect and funnel these signals to the soma and axon; they shape and integrate the inputs in complex ways. Despite being discovered over a century ago, dendrites received little research attention until the early 1950s. Over the past few years there has been a dramatic explosion of interest in the function of these beautiful structures. Recent new research has developed out understanding of the properties of dendrites, and their role in neuronal function. The first edition of Dendrites was a landmark in the literature, stimulating and guiding further research. The new edition substantially updates the earlier volume, and includes 5 new chapters and color illustrations. It gathers new information on dendrites into a single volume, with contributions written by leading researchers in the field. It presents a survey of the current state of our knowledge of dendrites, from their morphology and development through to their electrical, chemical, and computational properties. As such it will not only be of interest to researchers and graduate-level students in neuroscience, but will also be useful to researchers in computer science and IT, psychology, physiology, and biophysics.

    It expands on the 1999 National Research Council publication How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Expanded Edition that analyzed the science of learning in infants, educators, experts, and more. In How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice, the Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice asks how the insights from research can be incorporated into classroom practice and suggests a research and development agenda that would inform and stimulate the required change.The committee identifies teachers, or classroom practitioners, as the key to change, while acknowledging that change at the classroom level is significantly impacted by overarching public policies. How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice highlights three key findings about how students gain and retain knowledge and discusses the implications of these findings for teaching and teacher preparation. The highlighted principles of learning are applicable to teacher education and professional development programs as well as to K-12 education. The research-based messages found in this book are clear and directly relevant to classroom practice. It is a useful guide for teachers, administrators, researchers, curriculum specialists, and educational policy makers.

    The research tools that are transforming other branches of medicine - epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology, imaging, and medicinal chemistry - are also transforming psychiatry. The field stands poised to make dramatic advances in defining disease pathogenesis, developing diagnostic methods capable of identifying specific and valid disease entities, discovering novel and more effective treatments, and ultimately preventing psychiatric disorders. The Neurobiology of Mental Illness is written by world-renowned experts in basic neuroscience and the pathophysiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders. It begins with a succint overview of the basic neurosciences followed by and evaluation of the tools that are available for the study of mental disorders in humans. The core of the book is a series of consistently organized sections on the major psychiatric disorders that cover their diagnostic classification, molecular genetics, functional neuroanatomy, neurochemistry and pharmacology, neuroimaging, and principles of pharmacotherapy. Chapters are written in a clear style that is easily accessible to practicing psychiatrists, and yet they are detailed enough to interest researchers and academics. For this second edition, every section has been thoroughly updated, and 13 new chapters have been added in areas where significant advances have been made, including functional genomics and animal models of illness; epidemiology; cognitive neuroscience; postmortem investigation of human brain; drug discovery methods for psychiatric disorders; the neurobiology of schizophrenia; animal models of anxiety disorders; neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders; developmental neurobiology and childhood onset of psychiatric disorders; the neurobiology of mental retardation; the interface between neurological and psychiatric disorders; the neurobiology of circadian rhythms; and the neurobiology of sleep disorders. Both as a textbook and a reference work, Neurobiology of Mental Illness represents a uniquely valuable resource for psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and their students or trainees.

    They play essential roles in the physiology of all cells. In recent years, an ever-increasing number of human and animal diseases have been found to result from defects in ion channel function. Most of these diseases arise from mutations in the genes encoding ion channel proteins, and they are now referred to as the channelopathies.Ion Channels and Disease provides an informative and up-to-date account of our present understanding of ion channels and the molecular basis of ion channel diseases. It includes a basic introduction to the relevant aspects of molecular biology and biophysics and a brief description of the principal methods used to study channelopathies. For each channel, the relationship between its molecular structure and its functional properties is discussed and ways in which genetic mutations produce the disease phenotype are considered.This book is intended for research workers and clinicians, as well as graduates and advanced undergraduates. The text is clear and lively and assumes little knowledge, yet it takes the reader to frontiers of what is currently known about this most exciting and medically important area of physiology.

    The author brings new evidence to bear on these issues by demonstrating that patterns of individual differences--largely ignored in disputes about human rationality--have strong implications for explanations of the gap between normative and descriptive models of human behavior. Separate chapters show how patterns of individual differences have implications for all of the major critiques of purported demonstrations of human irrationality in the heuristics and biases literature. In these critiques, it has been posited that experimenters have observed performance errors rather than systematically irrational responses; the tasks have required computational operations that exceed human cognitive capacity; experimenters have applied the wrong normative model to the task; and participants have misinterpreted the tasks.In a comprehensive set of studies, Stanovich demonstrates that gaps between normative and descriptive models of performance on some tasks can be accounted for by positing these alternative explanations, but that not all discrepancies from normative models can be so explained. Individual differences in rational thought can in part be predicted by psychological dispositions that are interpreted as characteristic biases in people's intentional-level psychologies. Presenting the most comprehensive examination of individual differences in the heuristics and biases literature that has yet been published, experiments and theoretical insights in this volume contextualize the heuristics and biases literature exemplified in the work of various investigators.

    The nature of mind and the expansion of consciousness.

    The extreme importance of locomotion has stimulated many studies of the neural mechanisms underlying locomotion across a range of species. For the first time, a group of three leading neurobiologists have undertaken a comparative study of these mechanisms. Neuronal Control of Locomotion: From Mollusc to Man describes how the brains in very diverse and evolutionarily removed species control the animal's locomotion. In doing so, the authors reveal unifying principles of brain function, making it essential reading for students and researchers in neurobiology generally, and motor control in particular.

    In this traditional model, cognition mediates between perception and plans of action. Realizing that this core AI, as it was known, was illusory, Rodney A. Brooks turned the field of AI on its head by introducing the behavior-based approach to robotics. The cornerstone of behavior-based robotics is the realization that the coupling of perception and action gives rise to all the power of intelligence and that cognition is only in the eye of an observer. Behavior-based robotics has been the basis of successful applications in entertainment, service industries, agriculture, mining, and the home. It has given rise to both autonomous mobile robots and more recent humanoid robots such as Brooks' Cog.This book represents Brooks' initial formulation of and contributions to the development of the behavior-based approach to robotics. It presents all of the key philosophical and technical ideas that put this bottom-up approach at the forefront of current research in not only AI but all of cognitive science.