Best of
Neuroscience

2015

The Brain: The Story of You


David Eagleman - 2015
    Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the mysterious heart of our existence. What is reality? Who are “you”? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human?  In the course of his investigations, Eagleman guides us through the world of extreme sports, criminal justice, facial expressions, genocide, brain surgery, gut feelings, robotics, and the search for immortality.  Strap in for a whistle-stop tour into the inner cosmos. In the infinitely dense tangle of billions of brain cells and their trillions of connections, something emerges that you might not have expected to see in there: you.

The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time


Alex Korb - 2015
    Based in the latest research in neuroscience, this audiobook offers dozens of little things you can do every day to rewire your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life.Depression doesn't happen all at once. It starts gradually and builds momentum over time. If you go through a difficult experience, you may stop taking care of yourself. You may stop exercising and eating healthy, which will end up making you feel even worse as time goes on. You are caught in a downward spiral, but you may feel too tired, too overwhelmed, and too scared to try and pull yourself back up. The good news is that just one small step can be a step in the right direction.In The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystifies the neurological processes in the brain that cause depression and offers effective ways to get better "one little step at a time". In the book, you'll discover that there isn't "one big solution" that will solve your depression. Instead, there are dozens of small, practical things you can do to alleviate your symptoms and start healing. Some are as simple as relaxing certain muscles to reduce feelings of anxiety, while others involve making small efforts toward more positive social interactions. Small steps in the right direction can have profound effects giving you the power to literally "reshape" your brain.Like most people, you probably didn't wake up one day and find yourself completely depressed. Instead, it probably happened over time, as a series of reactions to difficult situations and negative thinking. But if you are ready to reverse the trajectory of your depression and find lasting happiness, this book will show you how.

The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity


Norman Doidge - 2015
    His revolutionary new book shows, for the first time, how the amazing process of neuroplastic healing really works. It describes natural, non-invasive avenues into the brain provided by the forms of energy around us—light, sound, vibration, movement—which pass through our senses and our bodies to awaken the brain’s own healing capacities without producing unpleasant side effects. Doidge explores cases where patients alleviated years of chronic pain or recovered from debilitating strokes or accidents; children on the autistic spectrum or with learning disorders normalizing; symptoms of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and cerebral palsy radically improved, and other near-miracle recoveries. And we learn how to vastly reduce the risk of dementia with simple approaches anyone can use. For centuries it was believed that the brain’s complexity prevented recovery from damage or disease. The Brain’s Way of Healing shows that this very sophistication is the source of a unique kind of healing. As he did so lucidly in The Brain That Changes Itself, Doidge uses stories to present cutting-edge science with practical real-world applications, and principles that everyone can apply to improve their brain’s performance and health.

Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry


Catherine M. Pittman - 2015
    The amygdala acts as a primal response, and oftentimes, when this part of the brain processes fear, you may not even understand why you are afraid. By comparison, the cortex is the center of “worry.” That is, obsessing, ruminating, and dwelling on things that may or may not happen. In the book, Pittman and Karle make it simple by offering specific examples of how to manage fear by tapping into both of these pathways in the brain. As you read, you’ll gain a greater understanding how anxiety is created in the brain, and as a result, you will feel empowered and motivated to overcome it. The brain is a powerful tool, and the more you work to change the way you respond to fear, the more resilient you will become. Using the practical self-assessments and proven-effective techniques in this book, you will learn to literally “rewire” the brain processes that lie at the root of your fears.

Why Therapy Works: Using Our Minds to Change Our Brains


Louis Cozolino - 2015
    But why does it work? And why does it matter that we understand how it works?In Why Therapy Works, Louis Cozolino explains the mechanisms of psychotherapeutic change from the bottom up, beginning with the brain, and how brains have evolved—especially how brains evolved to learn, unlearn, and relearn, which is at the basis of lasting psychological change.Readers will learn why therapists have to look beyond just words, diagnoses, and presenting problems to the inner histories of their clients in order to discover paths to positive change. The book also shows how our brains have evolved into social organs and how our interpersonal lives are a source of both pain and power. Readers will explore with Cozolino how our brains are programmed to connect in intimate relationships and come to understand the debilitating effects of anxiety, stress, and trauma.Finally, the book will lead to an understanding of the power of story and narratives for fostering self-regulation, neural integration, and positive change.Always, the focus of the book is in understanding underlying therapeutic change, moving beyond the particular of specific forms of therapy to the commonalities of human evolution, biology, and experience.This book is for anyone who has experienced the benefits of therapy and wondered how it worked. It is for anyone thinking about whether therapy is right for them, and it is for anyone who has looked within themselves and marveled at people's ability to experience profound transformation.

The Neuroscience of Intelligence


Richard J. Haier - 2015
    Compelling evidence shows that genetics plays a more important role than environment as intelligence develops from childhood, and that intelligence test scores correspond strongly to specific features of the brain assessed with neuroimaging. In understandable language, Richard J. Haier explains cutting-edge techniques based on genetics, DNA, and imaging of brain connectivity and function. He dispels common misconceptions, such as the belief that IQ tests are biased or meaningless, and debunks simple interventions alleged to increase intelligence. Readers will learn about the real possibility of dramatically enhancing intelligence based on neuroscience findings and the positive implications this could have for education and social policy. The text also explores potential controversies surrounding neuro-poverty, neuro-socioeconomic status, and the morality of enhancing intelligence for everyone. Online resources, including additional visuals, animations, questions and links, reinforce the material.

The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease


Marc Lewis - 2015
    The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do-seek pleasure and relief-in a world that's not cooperating. As a result, most treatment based on the disease model fails. Lewis shows how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery. This is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally.

Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, Endorphin Levels


Loretta Graziano Breuning - 2015
    Each page offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your “happy chemicals”—serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin. You’ll also learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in your brain to flow down a new pathway, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when you need them most. Filled with dozens of exercises that will help you reprogram your brain, Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to live a happier, healthier life!

365 Days of Positive Self-Talk


Shad Helmstetter - 2015
    Shad Helmstetter’s latest book, “365 Days of Positive Self-Talk,” is wonderfully uplifting as a daily inspirational guide, with positive selftalk messages for every day of the year. Along with the powerfully motivational self-talk messages, the book includes dozens of helpful and informative “Self-Talk Tips” throughout the book, giving readers a clear understanding of how self-talk works, and how to apply it in every area of their lives. (This book is a perfect gift for yourself, and for everyone you care about.)

Principles of Neural Design


Peter Sterling - 2015
    A mountain of new facts and mechanisms has emerged. And yet a principled framework to organize this knowledge has been missing. In this book, Peter Sterling and Simon Laughlin, two leading neuroscientists, strive to fill this gap, outlining a set of organizing principles to explain the whys of neural design that allow the brain to compute so efficiently.Setting out to "reverse engineer" the brain -- disassembling it to understand it -- Sterling and Laughlin first consider why an animal should need a brain, tracing computational abilities from bacterium to protozoan to worm. They examine bigger brains and the advantages of "anticipatory regulation"; identify constraints on neural design and the need to "nanofy"; and demonstrate the routes to efficiency in an integrated molecular system, phototransduction. They show that the principles of neural design at finer scales and lower levels apply at larger scales and higher levels; describe neural wiring efficiency; and discuss learning as a principle of biological design that includes "save only what is needed."Sterling and Laughlin avoid speculation about how the brain might work and endeavor to make sense of what is already known. Their distinctive contribution is to gather a coherent set of basic rules and exemplify them across spatial and functional scales.

Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind


Andy Clark - 2015
    These predictions then initiate actions that structure our worlds and alter the very things we need to engage and predict. Clark takes us on a journey in discovering the circular causal flows and the self-structuring of the environment that define "the predictive brain." What emerges is a bold, new, cutting-edge vision that reveals the brain as our driving force in the daily surf through the waves of sensory stimulation.

Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience: A Brain-Mind Odyssey


David E. Presti - 2015
    Rigorous and detailed enough to use as a textbook in a university or community college class, it is at the same time meant for any and all readers, clinicians and non-clinicians alike, interested in learning about the foundations of contemporary brain science. From molecules and cells to mind and consciousness, the known and the mysterious are presented in the context of the history of modern biology and with an eye toward better appreciating the beauty and growing public presence of brain science.

Skill: 40 Principles that Surgeons, Athletes, and Other Elite Performers Use to Achieve Mastery


Christopher S. Ahmad - 2015
    It feeds our success and fuels our failures (which is a good thing). However, too few of us embrace the notion that acquiring skill is a skill in itself.How we develop skill; the effort we put in; our attitudes even, as we work to improve, requires specific attributes of its own. In his book, SKILL, Christopher Ahmad, MD, provides 40 clear and compelling tips on how to achieve mastery — regardless of your pursuits.Dr. Ahmad is the Head Team Physician for the New York Yankees, a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, as well as an internationally recognized Orthopaedic Surgeon — he is also an aspiring competitive chess player, skier, chef, oenophile, soccer player, coach, friend, husband, son, brother and parent. To excel in each of these endeavors, he has dedicated his life to skill acquisition — from the hard skills required to save a multimillionaire athlete’s career to the soft skills of parenting. Dr. Ahmad consciously strives to be better at everything at all times. He will tell you he is not naturally gifted; that practice, patience and persistence have led him through this journey.Based on the life lessons he absorbed reading NY Times best-selling author Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code, Chris fashioned his own take on how to achieve excellence by focusing on the best ways to acquire and master skills as much as the skills themselves.

Fortitude


Apryl E. Pooley - 2015
    In her first year as a neuroscience doctoral student, Apryl learned of PTSD as more than a military issue, which led to her own PTSD diagnosis after nearly a decade of living with the disorder. She devoted the remainder of her life’s research to understanding the effects of trauma on the brain but learned that healing from trauma was so much more than a scientific experiment. Fortitude describes Apryl’s unrelenting attempts to hide her shame by escaping her mind and body, only to find that what she needed was to openly share her story and travel deep within herself to find the healing answers that were there all along.“It’s easy to compare Pooley’s book to some of the great addiction-themed memoirs like “Smashed,” “The Basketball Diaries” or “Drinking: A Love Story,” but [Fortitude: A PTSD Memoir] stands alone for its forthrightness and the author’s scientific bent. Her story deserves everyone’s full attention, and it definitely deserved a book.” –Bill Castanier, Lansing City Pulse literary journalist and editor of Mitten Lit blog about Michigan authors.

Brain and Behavior: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective


David Eagleman - 2015
    It highlights the principles, discoveries, and remaining mysteries of modern cognitiveneuroscience.Brain and Behavior covers a wide swath of territory critical for understanding the brain, from the basics of the nervous system, to sensory and motor systems, sleep, language, memory, emotions and motivation, social cognition, and brain disorders. Throughout the narrative, the authors emphasize thedynamically changing nature of the brain, through the mechanisms of neuroplasticity. Wherever possible, they refer to elements of neuroscience that are encountered in everyday life. Key points and concepts are illustrated using case studies of rare but illuminating brain disorders. Brain andBehavior pulls together the best current knowledge about the brain while acknowledging current areas of ignorance and pointing students towards the most promising directions for future research.

The Human Brain: New Scientist: The Collection


New Scientist - 2015
    If you're reading this, you are in possession of one of the most complex and incredible objects in the known universe. It isn't much to look at, but it is what allows us to experience the world, communicate, build civilisations, create great art and fly to the moon. It is, of course, the human brain. How does a 1.4 kilogram tangle of nerve cells allow you to sense, understand and change the world? How does it support thought, memory and consciousness? What is intelligence? What happens when it goes wrong, and how does it change as we grow older? The Human Brain, the latest issue of New Scientist: The Collection, is dedicated to the wonderful organ inside your head.

The Feeling Brain: Selected Papers on Neuropsychoanalysis (The Psychoanalytic Ideas Series)


Mark Solms - 2015
    This book provides an accessible introduction to the field through a selection of papers by one of its leading figures. It includes papers on the theoretical and philosophical foundations of neuropsychoanalysis, scientific papers on the brain mechanisms of dreaming and consciousness, the application of neuropsychoanalysis in psychiatry and neurology, and clinical case studies.

Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind


Marjorie Hines Woollacott - 2015
    When she experimented with meditation for the first time, however, her entire world changed. Woollacott's journey through years of meditation has made her question the reality she built her career upon and has forced her to ask what human consciousness really is. Infinite Awareness pairs Woollacott's research as a neuroscientist with her self-revelations about the mind's spiritual power. Between the scientific and spiritual worlds, she breaks open the definition of human consciousness to investigate the existence of a non-physical and infinitely powerful mind.

Yasargil:: Father of Modern Neurosurgery


Larry Rogers - 2015
    Gazi Yasargil: Father of Modern Neurosurgery is an account of a famous man's unusual and inspiring life, particularly as a youth and young man, which is described in the first 138 pages of the book.  Later, as a neurosurgeon, he found a means of reducing the mortality rates associated with the deadliest of brain pathologies from thirty percent in the mid-1960s to less than two percent. It required not only a vastly redesigned microscope, but an array of new surgical instruments, even a new way of thinking. 1967 witnessed neurosurgeons flocking to Zurich from around the world to learn his method. Yasargil possessed a truly amazing surgical talent, but his brand of microneurosurgery allowed even the lesser skilled to achieve stunning results if the requisite laboratory-hours to master the method were observed. Yasargil's life and times were as dramatic and challenging as microneurosurgery was important. He was born in a cave in rural east Turkey as his parents were held at gunpoint by outlaws determined to challenge the new government in Ankara. At eighteen, with his family's hearts in their throats, he was off to Vienna to study medicine. But when Nazi police suspected him of being a Jew, he was not allowed to register for classes. But instead of returning to Turkey defeated, he chose to push into Germany where he bargained enrollment as a first year medical student. From 1943 to 1945 he was harassed by Hitler's police as a potential spy. Headstrong, confident-he typically made matters worse. The bombs killing some of his classmates were dropped from British and American aircraft. Since this story contains as much history and adventure as medical triumph, a brief glossary of medical terms make it accessible to anyone reading at the high school level.

Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology


Brian Kolb - 2015
    With this updated edition, Bryan Kolb and Ian Whishaw again take students to the very forefront of one of the most eventful and impactful areas of scientific inquiry today, making an extraordinary amount of recent research and the real-world impact of those discoveries fascinating and accessible.

Build Your Brain Power: The Art of Smart Thinking


Simon Wootton - 2015
    Showing you how to put your new, more powerful brain to the test at work, home and play, this is a smart guide for any smart professional who wants to be brighter, quicker and in the lead at all times.

The Soul Fallacy: What Science Shows We Gain from Letting Go of Our Soul Beliefs


Julien Musolino - 2015
    In sharp contrast, the current scientific consensus rejects the traditional soul, although this conclusion is rarely discussed publicly. In this book, a cognitive scientist breaks the taboo and explains why modern science leads to this controversial conclusion. In doing so, the book reveals the truly astonishing scope and power of scientific inquiry, drawing on ideas from biology, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and the physical sciences. Much more than chronicling the demise of the traditional soul, the book explores where soul beliefs come from, why they are so widespread culturally and historically, how cognitive science offers a naturalistic alternative to religious conceptions of mind, and how postulating the existence of a soul amounts to making a scientific claim.Although the new scientific view of personhood departs radically from traditional religious conceptions, the author shows that a coherent, meaningful, and sensitive appreciation of what it means to be human remains intact. He argues that we do not lose anything by letting go of our soul beliefs and that we even have something to gain. Throughout, the book takes a passionate stand for science and reason. It also offers a timely rejoinder to recent claims that science supports the existence of the soul and the afterlife.

Medicine Buddha/Medicine Mind: An Easy-to-Understand Exploration of the Healing Power of Your Mind


Charlene Jones - 2015
    Her journey with Visualization began in a Tibetan Temple in the north of India, Dehra Dun, where she was initiated into the major vibrations of Tibetan iconography: visualized pictures and whispered mantras. She was 20 years old. She has been teaching this method of meditation for over 30 years to novices, experienced meditators, lay people and other meditation teachers.Through easy to understand neuroscience Medicine Buddha Medicine Mind's easy-to-read self-help explains the measurable, quantifiable changes Visualization Meditation practice brings to your brain.You will learn-how physical and emotional pain can be reduced or erased leaving you free to enjoy lifewhat Western Reason and Science say about Eastern Visualization Meditation Practicethe mantra neuroscientists use to control change in the brain's neural structurethe power of practice: what repetition does to promote the brain with new and vital ways to behavewhy your ability to read and conjure inner worlds is the secret way you are already Visualizing!If you believe in combining Western Reason with Eastern Faith, if you enjoy knowing the science behind how meditation works, you'll love Medicine Buddha Medicine Mind.Begin meditating with both sides of your brain. Buy Medicine Buddha Medicine Mind now!

Integration: The Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life


Ann Betz - 2015
    Betz and Kimsey-House explore not only the historical and spiritual history of our disconnection and its cost to individual and societal well-being, but also provide a compelling, neuroscience-based argument for how to make the next "great turning" of human development: becoming more integrated human beings. They invite you to accompany them through a road map to integration by exploring in detail the Co-Active model, originally used by coaches, but with practical application to business, parents, teachers, and anyone with a desire to be more effective, connected, and whole. Richly illustrated with true stories of integration in action, as well as current research in neuroscience, this book provides a guide to reaching our full potential within ourselves, with each other, in groups and organizations and with society at large.NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS-SILVER WINNER 2015 in the Category: Relationships and Communications http: //www.nautilusbookawards.com/2015_SILVE...

Mind in Architecture: Neuroscience, Embodiment, and the Future of Design


Sarah Robinson - 2015
    We are biological beings whose senses and neural systems have developed over millions of years; it stands to reason that research in the life sciences, particularly neuroscience, can offer compelling insights into the ways our buildings shape our interactions with the world. This expanded understanding can help architects design buildings that support both mind and body. In Mind in Architecture, leading thinkers from architecture and other disciplines, including neuroscience, cognitive science, psychiatry, and philosophy, explore what architecture and neuroscience can learn from each other. They offer historical context, examine the implications for current architectural practice and education, and imagine a neuroscientifically informed architecture of the future.Architecture is late in discovering the richness of neuroscientific research. As scientists were finding evidence for the bodily basis of mind and meaning, architecture was caught up in convoluted cerebral games that denied emotional and bodily reality altogether. This volume maps the extraordinary opportunity that engagement with cutting-edge neuroscience offers present-day architects.ContributorsThomas D. Albright, Michael Arbib, John Paul Eberhard, Melissa Farling, Vittorio Gallese, Alessandro Gattara, Mark L. Johnson, Harry Francis Mallgrave, Iain McGilchrist, Juhani Pallasmaa, Alberto Perez-Gomez, Sarah Robinson

The Fear-free Organization: Vital Insights from Neuroscience to Transform Your Business Culture


Paul Brown - 2015
    It is built on trust, not fear. Scared people spend a lot more time plotting their survival than working productively, so TheFear-Free Organization has zero tolerance for bullies, vicious gossip, undermining behaviors, hijacking tactics, political jockeying for position or favoritism. Instead, it works on inspiration. Evidence from neuroscience shows that individuals and organizations are more successful when people are encouraged to take risks, to explore new ideas, and to channel their energies in ways that work for them. The Fear-Free Organization reveals how our new understanding of the neurobiology of the self - how the brain constructs the person - can transform for the better the way our businesses and organizations work.

Cycles in mind: How brain rhythms control perception and action


Mike X. Cohen - 2015
    Where do these oscillations comes from and what do they mean? This book explores the cutting-edge neuroscientific research showing that these brain rhythms affect how you see, hear, and understand the world around you, and how you move your fingers, eyes, and vocal chords to interact with the world. It is explained by a neuroscientist, and intended for a non-scientific audience.

The Drama-Free Way: A Thought-Management Guide to Navigating Chaos and Thriving


Jennifer Kern Collins - 2015
    And, like true junkies, we indulge in it endlessly. Drama addiction is real. But why do we have it? How did we even get here? Drama functions as a social survival method that we all sometimes lean on to be seen, heard, and to feel like we matter. Left unattended, the negative thought patterns and emotional wounds that foster drama will be recycled generation after generation, adversely affecting our world for years to come. There is a path to true emotional freedom. The Drama-Free Way: A Thought-Management Guide to Navigating Chaos and Thriving explores the internal thought patterns and energetic states that create drama. This book pairs real stories of journeys out of drama addiction with a practical approach for intentional thinking and authentic thriving. The result isn't a destination, but a new way of living—a way that can make life easier, more fun, and more fulfilling. Your spirit is calling you to a new level of being; The Drama-Free Way will lead you there.

Being Brain Healthy


Ruth Curran - 2015
    It is one author Ruth Curran knows well. Faced with myriad cognitive challenges after her own traumatic brain injury resulting from an automobile accident, Curran decided to "turn up the volume" on the things that she loved in order to expedite the healing of her brain. She found ways to work through the discomfort and discouragement that can plague those suffering from traumatic brain injury as well as other conditions, chronic illnesses, and age-related changes that affect cognition and brain health.In Being Brain Healthy, Curran shares her 18-month path to recovery along with the techniques she used—and continues to use—to amplify her everyday experiences with the goal of maximizing brain health and function. Her book is one of hope, not only for those whose brains have been compromised through injury or illness, but also for anyone who wants to think better and improve their cognitive abilities.Curran has the unique ability to share her insights on brain health and healing in a manner that makes complex neuroscience matters make sense to even those taking their first frustrating steps toward recovery. Convinced that everyone can build better thinking skills and work their way out of what she calls "the fog" regardless of its cause, Curran shares how she did exactly that and made her entire life more fulfilling.Being Brain Healthy combines the most cutting-edge research with what works in practice and fits in daily life. Curran helps readers understand how the brain and body work together and how the partnership between the two can be utilized to create a more healthy brain. Curran outlines how the newest science, activities, and exercises can help those with thinking challenges make the most of every day. Her "being" brain healthy methods—and book sections—include Be Active, Be Social, Be Engaged, Be Purposeful, and Be Complicated.Also included in the book are personal stories from individuals on their process recovering from brain challenges. Their accounts along with insight and information from Curran will inspire readers to amplify their experiences and take their own brain functionality to the next level.

Neuroscience for Learning and Development: How to Apply Neuroscience and Psychology for Improved Learning and Training


Stella Collins - 2015
    Explaining the science behind creative training delivery so that learners will be motivated, enjoy their training sessions, pay attention, remember what was being said, and ultimately be able to apply what they have learned, Neuroscience for Learning and Development introduces tools, techniques, and ideas to help trainers improve their training.  Author Stella Collins provides the latest scientific research behind multiple facets of training and learning, including the design and delivery of face to face, online and virtual learning, and how to create environments conducive to learning, along with how to distinguish between neuromyths and neuroscience.

Transorbital


Nathan Singer - 2015
    Walter Freeman drives his Lobotomobile coast to coast across post-war America, determined to save the country from its own troubled mind.With messianic fervor, an evangelist’s sense of righteousness, and a jazzman’s gift for improvisation (and showmanship), Doc Freeman is quickly gaining converts, and notoriety. All is going just swell, until a number of Freeman’s former protégés start turning up dead, and only Freeman’s assistant, The Kid, is able to recognize that something sinister is afoot. Will The Kid be able to keep his demons at bay and get to the bottom of things before the bodies really start piling up?Creepy, grimy, and darkly humorous, TRANSORBITAL is an off-kilter twist on the old pulp whodunit.

How Creativity Happens in the Brain


Arne Dietrich - 2015
    How can it manage to be so outrageously creative? How Creativity Happens In The Brain is a concise affair with a sharp focus: to stick exclusively to sound, mechanistic explanations and convey what we can, and cannot, say about how brains give rise to creative ideas. The book examines previous theories which have dominated neuroscience before presenting alternative suggestions as to how the field can develop. These include variation-selection algorithms, the newly emerging prediction system, the brain's dual information-processing platform (explicit vs. implicit) as well as basic concepts from cognitive psychology, such as connectionist networks, task set, task-set inertia, and speed of processing.

Dreaming: A Conceptual Framework for Philosophy of Mind and Empirical Research


Jennifer M. Windt - 2015
    Dreams, conceived as conscious experience or phenomenal states during sleep, offer an important contrast condition for theories of consciousness and the self. Yet, although there is a wealth of empirical research on sleep and dreaming, its potential contribution to consciousness research and philosophy of mind is largely overlooked. This might be due, in part, to a lack of conceptual clarity and an underlying disagreement about the nature of the phenomenon of dreaming itself. In Dreaming, Jennifer Windt lays the groundwork for solving this problem. She develops a conceptual framework describing not only what it means to say that dreams are conscious experiences but also how to locate dreams relative to such concepts as perception, hallucination, and imagination, as well as thinking, knowledge, belief, deception, and self-consciousness.Arguing that a conceptual framework must be not only conceptually sound but also phenomenologically plausible and carefully informed by neuroscientific research, Windt integrates her review of philosophical work on dreaming, both historical and contemporary, with a survey of the most important empirical findings. This allows her to work toward a systematic and comprehensive new theoretical understanding of dreaming informed by a critical reading of contemporary research findings. Windt's account demonstrates that a philosophical analysis of the concept of dreaming can provide an important enrichment and extension to the conceptual repertoire of discussions of consciousness and the self and raises new questions for future research.

Sapiens: by Yuval Noah Harari | Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review: A Brief History of Humankind


Eureka Books - 2015
    Sapiens: by Yuval Noah Harari | Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is a multifaceted review and analysis of the current understanding of human evolution and the forces behind major historical developments, beginning with the Neanderthals and other Homo species to Homo sapiens, leading up to the present day, and projecting what might happen in the future…  This companion to Sapiens includes: Overview of the book Important People Key Takeaways Analysis of Key Takeaways and much more!

Neuroimmunity: A New Science That Will Revolutionize How We Keep Our Brains Healthy and Young


Michal Schwartz - 2015
    But over the past twenty years, neuroimmunologist Michal Schwartz, together with her research team, not only has overturned this misconception but has brought to light revolutionary new understandings of brain health and repair. In this book Schwartz describes her research journey, her experiments, and the triumphs and setbacks that led to the discovery of connections between immune system and brain. Michal Schwartz, with Anat London, also explains the significance of the findings for future treatments of brain disorders and injuries, spinal cord injuries, glaucoma, depression, and other conditions such as brain aging and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.   Scientists, physicians, medical students, and all readers with an interest in brain function and its relationship to the immune system in health and disease will find this book a valuable resource. With general readers in mind, the authors provide a useful primer to explain scientific terms and concepts discussed in the book.

Nolte's the Human Brain: An Introduction to Its Functional Anatomy


Todd Vanderah - 2015
    A clear writing style, interesting examples and visual cues bring this extremely complicated subject to life and more understandable. Get the depth of coverage you need with discussions on all key topics in functional neuroanatomy and neuroscience, giving you well-rounded coverage of this complex subject. Zero in on the key information you need to know with highly templated, concise chapters that reinforce and expand your knowledge. Develop a thorough, clinically relevant understanding through clinical examples providing a real-life perspective. Gain a greater understanding of every concept through a glossary of key terms that elucidates every part of the text; 3-dimensional brain. Acquaint yourself with the very latest advancements in the field with many illustrations using the most current neuroimaging techniques, reflecting recent developments and changes in understanding. Keep up with the latest knowledge in neural plasticity including formation, modification, and repair of connections, with coverage of learning and memory, as well as the coming revolution in ways to fix damaged nervous systems, trophic factors, stem cells, and more. NEW! Gauge your mastery of the material and build confidence with over 100 multiple choice questions that provide effective chapter review and quick practice for your exams. Student Consult eBook version included with purchase. This enhanced eBook experience allows you to search all of the text, figures, references, and videos from the book on a variety of devices.

Principles of Neurobiology


Liqun Luo - 2015
    The text is organized around a series of key experiments to illustrate how scientific progress is made and helps upper-level undergraduate and graduate students discover the relevant primary literature. Written by a single author in a clear and consistent writing style, each topic builds in complexity from electrophysiology to molecular genetics to systems level in a highly integrative approach. Students can fully engage with the content via thematically linked chapters and will be able to read the book in its entirety in a semester-long course. Principles of Neurobiology is accompanied by a rich package of online student and instructor resources including animations, journal club suggestions, figures in PowerPoint, and a Question Bank for adopting instructors.Principles of Neurobiology is additionally supported by the Garland Science Learning System. This homework platform is designed to evaluate and improve student performance and allows instructors to select assignments on specific topics and review the performance of the entire class, as well as individual students, via the instructor dashboard. Students receive immediate feedback on their mastery of the topics, and will be better prepared for lectures and classroom discussions. The user-friendly system provides a convenient way to engage students while assessing progress. Performance data can be used to tailor classroom discussion, activities, and lectures to address students' needs precisely and efficiently. For more information and sample material, visit http: //garlandscience.rocketmix.com/.

Brain Renaissance: From Vesalius to Modern Neuroscience


Marco Catani - 2015
    The authors translated those Latin chapters of the Fabrica dedicated to the brain, a milestone in the history of neuroscience. Many chapters are accompanied by a commentary tracking the discoveries that paved the way to our modern understanding of the brain - from the pineal gland that regulates sleep, the fornix and mammillary bodies for memory, the colliculi for auditory and visual perception, and the cerebellum for motor control, to the corpus callosum for interhemispheric cross-talk, the neural correlates of senses, and the methods for dissections. The chapters constitute a primer for those interested in the brain and history of neuroscience. The translation, written with modern anatomical terminology in mind, provides direct access to Vesalius' original work on the brain. Those interested in reading the words of the Renaissance master will find the book an invaluable addition to their Vesalian collection.Brain Renaissance pays a tribute to the work of the pioneers of neuroscience and to the lives of those with brain disorders, through whose suffering most discoveries are made. It's an unforgettable journey inspired by the work of the great anatomist, whose words still resonate today.

Physical Computation: A Mechanistic Account


Gualtiero Piccinini - 2015
    A physical system is a computing system just in case it is a mechanism one of whose functions is to manipulate vehicles based solely on differences between different portions of the vehicles according to a rule defined over the vehicles. Physical Computation discusses previous accounts of computation and argues that the mechanistic account is better. Manykinds of computation are explicated, such as digital vs. analog, serial vs. parallel, neural network computation, program-controlled computation, and more. Piccinini argues that computation does not entail representation or information processing although information processing entails computation.Pancomputationalism, according to which every physical system is computational, is rejected. A modest version of the physical Church-Turing thesis, according to which any function that is physically computable is computable by Turing machines, is defended.

How Addiction Hijacks the Brain


Thad A. Polk - 2015
    

The Rhythmic Movement Method: A Revolutionary Approach to Improved Health and Well-Being


Harald Blomberg - 2015
    Harald Blomberg explains why rhythmic movement is more useful than drugs in treating ADHD and many other disorders. Based on the spontaneous rhythmic movements of infants, these actions are necessary for the development of the brain, motor abilities, emotions, and mental faculties. He introduces his method—rhythmic movement training—and describes how simple healing exercises stimulate the ability of the brain and the nervous system to renew itself and create new connections. Blomberg shares how these exercises help people develop and mature or heal physically, emotionally, and mentally. With case studies included, The Rhythmic Movement Method helps children with ADHD and adults suffering from depression, psychosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other disorders to feel well, function better, and stop taking medications.

The Neuroscience of Leadership Coaching: Why the Tools and Techniques of Leadership Coaching Work


Patricia Bossons - 2015
    It brings together the authors' experience as psychologists, neuroscientists and senior level executive coaches to analyse the neuroscience behind behavioural change.The authors present the latest views on leadership, executive coaching and an introduction to the basic concepts of how the brain works to enable managers and coaches to work more confidently, and with greater focus.A series of coaching case histories are accompanied by neuroscience commentaries that offer full explanations of how to select a coaching intervention that will engage different parts of the brain. The cases are categorised by the technique used and the area of the brain the tool accesses, making it easier to understand what type of coaching tool would be useful for a specific situation, and also what type of technique might be used to engage a different part of the brain if the first approach is ineffective.

The Secret Life of the Mind: How Your Brain Thinks, Feels, and Decides


Mariano Sigman - 2015
    From one of the world's leading neuroscientists comes a deeply engaging trip into the depths of the human mind.In The Secret Life of the Mind, neuroscientist Mariano Sigman offers a grand yet concise survey of everything you ever wanted to know about how the mind works.From research showing that, even as infants, we are able to form notions of mathematics, language, and morality, to how years and years of formal and informal education can fundamentally change our brains and how we experience the world, The Secret Life of the Mind is an accessible and fascinating overview of neuroscience that will help readers begin to understand even the smallest things that make us who we are.Personal, surprising, and delightfully illuminating, The Secret Life of the Mind is an intimate look into our most intimate selves.

Intelligence Emerging: Adaptivity and Search in Evolving Neural Systems


Keith L. Downing - 2015
    In this book, Keith Downing undertakes a systematic investigation of the widespread (if often vague) claim that intelligence is an emergent phenomenon. Downing focuses on neural networks, both natural and artificial, and how their adaptability in three time frames – phylogenetic (evolutionary), ontogenetic (developmental), and epigenetic (lifetime learning) – underlie the emergence of cognition. Integrating the perspectives of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, Downing provides a series of concrete examples of neurocognitive emergence. Doing so, he offers a new motivation for the expanded use of bio-inspired concepts in artificial intelligence (AI), in the subfield known as Bio-AI.One of Downing's central claims is that two key concepts from traditional AI, search and representation, are key to understanding emergent intelligence as well. He first offers introductory chapters on five core concepts: emergent phenomena, formal search processes, representational issues in Bio-AI, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and evolutionary algorithms (EAs). Intermediate chapters delve deeper into search, representation, and emergence in ANNs, EAs, and evolving brains. Finally, advanced chapters on evolving artificial neural networks and information-theoretic approaches to assessing emergence in neural systems synthesize earlier topics to provide some perspective, predictions, and pointers for the future of Bio-AI.

Fundamentals of Brain Network Analysis


Alex Fornito - 2015
    From the perspective of graph theory and network science, this book introduces, motivates and explains techniques for modeling brain networks as graphs of nodes connected by edges, and covers a diverse array of measures for quantifying their topological and spatial organization. It builds intuition for key concepts and methods by illustrating how they can be practically applied in diverse areas of neuroscience, ranging from the analysis of synaptic networks in the nematode worm to the characterization of large-scale human brain networks constructed with magnetic resonance imaging. This text is ideally suited to neuroscientists wanting to develop expertise in the rapidly developing field of neural connectomics, and to physical and computational scientists wanting to understand how these quantitative methods can be used to understand brain organization. Builds a conceptual understanding on the minimum of prior knowledge by a series of chapters that lead from basic to more advanced technical issuesExtensively illustrated throughout by graphical representations of key mathematical concepts and their practical applications to analysis of nervous systemsComprehensively covers graph theoretical analysis of structural and functional brain networks from microscopic to macroscopic scales using examples based on a wide variety of experimental methods in neuroscienceDetailed text boxes and glossary provide in-depth background to key concepts and terminologyDesigned to inform and empower scientists with all levels of experience, and from any specialist background, wanting to use the modern methods of network science to analyse the organization of the brain

Trees of the Brain, Roots of the Mind


Giorgio A Ascoli - 2015
    Tens of billions of nerve cells-tiny tree-like structures--make up a massive network with enormous computational power. In this book, Giorgio Ascoli reveals another aspect of the human brain: the stunning beauty of its cellular form. Doing so, he makes a provocative claim about the mind-brain relationship.If each nerve cell enlarged a thousandfold looks like a tree, then a small region of the nervous system at the same magnified scale resembles a gigantic, fantastic forest. This structural majesty--illustrated throughout the book with extraordinary color images--hides the secrets behind the genesis of our mental states. Ascoli proposes that some of the most intriguing mysteries of the mind can be solved using the basic architectural principles of the brain. After an overview of the scientific and philosophical foundations of his argument, Ascoli links mental states with patterns of electrical activity in nerve cells, presents an emerging minority opinion of how the brain learns from experience, and unveils a radically new hypothesis of the mechanism determining what is learned, what isn't, and why. Finally, considering these notions in the context of the cosmic diversity within and among brains, Ascoli offers a new perspective on the roots of individuality and humanity.