Best of
Neuroscience

2016

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain


Lisa Feldman Barrett - 2016
    Scientists have long supported this assumption by claiming that emotions are hardwired in the body or the brain. Today, however, the science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology—ans this paradigm shift has far-reaching implications for us all.Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose theory of emotion is driving a deeper understanding of the mind and brain, and shedding new light on what it means to be human. Her research overturns the widely held belief that emotions are housed in different parts of the brain and are universally expressed and recognized. Instead, she has shown that emotion is constructed in the moment, by core systems that interact across the whole brain, aided by a lifetime of learning. This new theory means that you play a much greater role in your emotional life than you ever thought. Its repercussions are already shaking the foundations not only of psychology but also of medicine, the legal system, child-rearing, meditation, and even airport security.Why do emotions feel automatic? Does rational thought really control emotion? How does emotion affect disease? How can you make your children more emotionally intelligent? How Emotions Are Made answers these questions and many more, revealing the latest research and intriguing practical applications of the new science of emotion, mind, and brain.

NeuroLogic: The Brain's Hidden Rationale Behind Our Irrational Behavior


Eliezer J. Sternberg - 2016
      From bizarre dreams and hallucinations to schizophrenia and multiple personalities, the human brain is responsible for a diverse spectrum of strange thoughts and behaviors. When observed from the outside, these phenomena are often written off as being just “crazy,” but what if they were actually planned and logical?  NeuroLogic explores the brain’s internal system of reasoning, from its unconscious depths to conscious decision making, and illuminates how it explains our most outlandish as well as our most stereotyped behaviors. From sleepwalking murderers, contagious yawning, and the brains of sports fans to false memories, subliminal messages, and the secret of ticklishness, Dr. Eliezer Sternberg shows that there are patterns to the way the brain interprets the world—–patterns that fit the brain’s unique logic. Unraveling these patterns and the various ways they can be disturbed will not only alter our view of mental illness and supernatural experience, but will also shed light on the hidden parts of ourselves.  (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

Nothing Good Happens at ... the Baby Hospital: The Strange, Silly World of Pediatric Brain Surgery


Daniel Fulkerson - 2016
    But after falling backwards into the specialty, Dr. Fulkerson found neurosurgery to be a field filled with joy, sadness, a little humor, and courageous and inspiring patients.In an honest and compelling retelling of his long and winding road to train and then practice as a pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Fulkerson guides others through his journey from medical school to service on a small military base, through residency training, and finally, to a practice in a highly specialized children's hospital. The journey reveals the dramatic swings of emotions experienced by both patients and doctors in an increasingly hostile medical environment. Dr. Fulkerson also shares stories of dedicated professors who train medical students and resident surgeons to care for the tiniest neurosurgical patients.Nothing Good Happens at ... The Baby Hospital offers a compelling glimpse into the joys, tragedies, and hopeful moments that surround the highly specialized and sometimes silly world of pediatric neurosurgery.

Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures


Eric R. Kandel - 2016
    Kandel, whose remarkable scientific career and deep interest in art give him a unique perspective, demonstrates how science can inform the way we experience a work of art and seek to understand its meaning. Kandel illustrates how reductionism―the distillation of larger scientific or aesthetic concepts into smaller, more tractable components―has been used by scientists and artists alike to pursue their respective truths. He draws on his Nobel Prize-winning work revealing the neurobiological underpinnings of learning and memory in sea slugs to shed light on the complex workings of the mental processes of higher animals.In Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Kandel shows how this radically reductionist approach, applied to the most complex puzzle of our time―the brain―has been employed by modern artists who distill their subjective world into color, form, and light. Kandel demonstrates through bottom-up sensory and top-down cognitive functions how science can explore the complexities of human perception and help us to perceive, appreciate, and understand great works of art. At the heart of the book is an elegant elucidation of the contribution of reductionism to the evolution of modern art and its role in a monumental shift in artistic perspective. Reductionism steered the transition from figurative art to the first explorations of abstract art reflected in the works of Turner, Monet, Kandinsky, Schoenberg, and Mondrian. Kandel explains how, in the postwar era, Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Louis, Turrell, and Flavin used a reductionist approach to arrive at their abstract expressionism and how Katz, Warhol, Close, and Sandback built upon the advances of the New York School to reimagine figurative and minimal art. Featuring captivating drawings of the brain alongside full-color reproductions of modern art masterpieces, this book draws out the common concerns of science and art and how they illuminate each other.

Siddhartha's Brain: Unlocking the Ancient Science of Enlightenment


James Kingsland - 2016
    Twenty-five centuries later, humans have transformed everything about our world—except our brains, which remain the same powerful yet flawed instruments possessed by our ancestors. What if the solution we seek to the psychological problems of life in the digital age—distraction, anxiety, addiction, loss of deep meaning—had already been worked out by the Buddha in ancient India? Appealing to readers of Eastern wisdom and Jon Kabat-Zinn, as well as to fans of bestsellers by Oliver Sacks and Malcolm Gladwell, acclaimed science writer and practicing Buddhist James Kingsland reveals how scientists are now unlocking the remarkable secrets of Siddhartha’s brain.Moving effortlessly between science and scripture, Kingsland charts Siddhartha’s spiritual journey and explains how new research by leading neuroscientists and clinical psychologists—many of whom are interviewed in these pages—suggests that mindfulness practice reconfigures our brains to make us sharper, smarter, healthier, and happier, and that it can help treat stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, hypertension, and substance abuse. There have even been hints that meditation can enhance immune function, slow cellular aging, and keep dementia at bay. Featuring six guided meditations, Siddhartha’s Brain is a practical and inspiring odyssey of mind and spirit.“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think.”—Siddhartha

The Boy Who Could Run But Not Walk :Understanding Neuroplasticity in the Child’s Brain


Karen Pape - 2016
    Karen Pape tells the story of how some children with early brain damage astounded everyone around them. The brain injury they suffered at or near birth had led to motor problems such as the awkward gait we associate with cerebral palsy. Yet they were able to run, kick a soccer ball, tap dance, and play tennis. This was not supposed to happen. It ran counter to the prevailing belief that the brain is hardwired and fixed. When Dr. Pape first shared her remarkable findings, she ran into fierce opposition from mainstream medicine. Yet this courageous neonatologist didn’t back down.In her clinical practice, Pape helped many young brain-damaged children to significantly improve their movement. It led her to ask why some of them could run but not walk with the same ease. Her answer was astounding: By the time they learned to run, their brains had healed. The awkward walking gait was actually a bad habit acquired while the brain was still damaged.This is the power and the beauty of neuroplasticity, the brain’s amazing ability to change and heal. It has revolutionized the treatment of adults who suffer stroke. Now, for the first time, this remarkable book shows that children with a brain injury at or near birth can get better, too. These stories of children’s recovery and improvements are a revelation—surprising, inspiring, and illuminating. They offer real hope for some of the world’s most vulnerable children and a better understanding of how the baby brain grows and recovers.

Neuroplasticity


Moheb Costandi - 2016
    Today, we know that our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes. This concept of neuroplasticity has captured the imagination of a public eager for self-improvement--and has inspired countless Internet entrepreneurs who peddle dubious "brain training" games and apps. In this book, Moheb Costandi offers a concise and engaging overview of neuroplasticity for the general reader, describing how our brains change continuously in response to our actions and experiences.Costandi discusses key experimental findings, and describes how our thinking about the brain has evolved over time. He explains how the brain changes during development, and the "synaptic pruning" that takes place before brain maturity. He shows that adult brains can grow new cells (citing, among many other studies, research showing that sexually mature male canaries learn a new song every year). He describes the kind of brain training that can bring about improvement in brain function. It's not gadgets and games that promise to "rewire your brain" but such sustained cognitive tasks as learning a musical instrument or a new language. (Costandi also notes that London cabbies increase their gray matter after rigorous training in their city's complicated streets.) He tells how brains compensate after stroke or injury; describes addiction and pain as maladaptive forms of neuroplasticity; and considers brain changes that accompany childhood, adolescence, parenthood, and aging. Each of our brains is custom-built. Neuroplasticity is at the heart of what makes us human.

Outsmart Yourself: Brain-Based Strategies to a Better You


Peter M. Vishton - 2016
    The surprising thing is just how counterintuitive some of these strategies can be. Feeling the urge to procrastinate? Do nothing for 20 minutes and you'll feel ready to get to work. Want to strengthen your athletic performance? The imagination and mental "practice" can be just as beneficial as putting on your sweats and heading to the gym. Come down with a case of the blues? Try eating some fermented foods such as yogurt or sourdough bread. Outsmart Yourself: Brain-Based Strategies to a Better You will give you insights into how your mind works and the tools you need to make lasting change. Taught by Professor Peter M. Vishton, Associate Professor of Psychology at William & Mary, these 24 exciting lectures give you a wealth of practical strategies to strengthen your creativity, improve your problem-solving, enhance your health, and generally improve your well-being. Whether we're distracted by too many tasks, being influenced by crafty marketers, or simply living in a rut of bad habits, our conscious brains aren't always guiding us toward the best actions. Fortunately, Professor Vishton offers the latest in scientific research to outsmart the subconscious.

Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal


Erik Vance - 2016
    Could the secrets to personal health lie within our own brains? Journalist Erik Vance explores the surprising ways our expectations and beliefs influence our bodily responses to pain, disease, and everyday events. Drawing on centuries of research and interviews with leading experts in the field, Vance takes us on a fascinating adventure from Harvard’s research labs to a witch doctor’s office in Catemaco, Mexico, to an alternative medicine school near Beijing (often called “China’s Hogwarts”). Vance’s firsthand dispatches will change the way you think—and feel.  Continuing the success of National Geographic’s brain books and rounding out our pop science category, this book shows how expectations, beliefs, and self-deception can actively change our bodies and minds. Vance builds a case for our “internal pharmacy”—the very real chemical reactions our brains produce when we think we are experiencing pain or healing, actual or perceived. Supporting this idea is centuries of placebo research in a range of forms, from sugar pills to shock waves; studies of alternative medicine techniques heralded and condemned in different parts of the world (think crystals and chakras); and most recently, major advances in brain mapping technology. Thanks to this technology, we're learning how we might leverage our suggestibility (or lack thereof) for personalized medicine, and Vance brings us to the front lines of such study.From the Hardcover edition.

Men Chase, Women Choose: The Neuroscience of Meeting, Dating, Losing Your Mind, and Finding True Love


Dawn Maslar - 2016
    Music, literature, and movies are filled with common folklore about love and millions of TV viewers tune in to shows like The Bachelor and read the latest relationship tome with one simple hope: to uncover some nugget of mystic wisdom that will help them understand the exciting, addictive, insane experience called 'love'.   Men Chase, Women Choose, is the first book to offer cutting-edge research that explains how the brain works when two people first meet, start to date, fall in love, and then move into long-term, real love. Maslar's unique approach brings together the latest and most relevant neurological, physiological, and biochemical research on the science of love while incorporating stories and examples of composite characters based on participants of her popular classes and seminars. She explains that 'love' is actually neural activity as well as the presence or absence of certain neurotransmitters that bathe the brain, and it follows a precisely timed path of four, easy-to-understand phases: the exciting norepinephrine-charged meeting phase; the addictive dopamine dating phase; the insane falling-in-love and losing your mind phase; and finally, the safe, warm and wonderful, true, long-term love phase. For the past decade Maslar has made it her mission to learn all she can about the science behind falling in love, including its evolutionary benefits. Her goal—and the purpose of this book—is to help men and women find and maintain love by understanding and applying the science behind it. The bottom line? We actually can have long-lasting, nourishing, exciting, passionate love with little or no risk!

Neuroteach: Brain Science and the Future of Education


Glenn Whitman - 2016
    Thus it would seem obvious that an understanding of the brain - the organ of learning - would be critical to a teacher's readiness to work with students. Unfortunately, in traditional public, public-charter, private, parochial, and home schools across the country, most teachers lack an understanding of how the brain receives, filters, consolidates, and applies learning for both the short and long term. Neuroteach was therefore written to help solve the problem teachers and school leaders have in knowing how to bring the growing body of educational neuroscience research into the design of their schools, classrooms, and work with each individual student. It is our hope, that Neuroteach will help ensure that one day, every student -regardless of zip code or school type-will learn and develop with the guidance of a teacher who knows the research behind how his or her brain works and learns.

Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To


Dean Burnett - 2016
    But it’s also messy, fallible, and about 50,000 years out of date. We cling to superstitions, remember faces but not names, miss things sitting right in front of us, and lie awake at night while our brains endlessly replay our greatest fears. Idiot Brain is for anyone who has ever wondered why their brain appears to be sabotaging their life—and what on earth it is really up to.A Library Journal Science Bestseller and a Finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award in Science Technology.

Understanding Alcoholism as a Brain Disease (Rethinking Drinking Book 2)


Linda Burlison - 2016
     Written in plain English from a true medical perspective, even if you aren’t a doctor or scientist, you’ll find this book easy to read and understand. This is the second volume in the Rethinking Drinking series that emerged out of the authors first book, A Prescription for Alcoholics-Medications for Alcoholism. Alcoholics, care-givers and loved-ones ask, “Why does the alcoholic keep drinking or continue to return to drinking, despite all they continue to lose?’, ‘What is wrong with them?!’ Alcoholics berate themselves and question why they keep drinking when they see the damage it causes. They ask, ‘What is wrong with me?’ The answers to those agonizing questions are found in this book. You’ll learn about alcoholism as a complex brain disease. This book will help you understand the disease in a way that provides a fresh new perspective on this devastating neurological condition.

Made in Macaíba


Miguel Nicolelis - 2016
    Ele é o relato da maturação e realização desse ambicioso projeto que mistura inovação científica e desenvolvimento social. The book chronicles the creation of the International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal, an ambitious initiative that brings together scientific research and social development in the northeast of Brazil. The book discusses the genesis and implementation of the project, brainchild of the author Miguel Nicolelis, and expresses the author's trajectory in establishing the IINN - ELS, as well as its first steps.

Oliver Sacks: The Last Interview and Other Conversations


Oliver Sacks - 2016
    Oliver Sacks--called "the poet laureate of medicine" by the New York Times--illuminated the mysteries of the brain for a wide audience in a series of richly acclaimed books, including Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and numerous The New Yorker articles. In this collection of interviews, Sacks is at his most candid and disarming, rich with insights about his life and work. Any reader of Oliver Sacks will find in this book an entirely new way of looking at a brilliant writer"--

The Brain Book: How to Think and Work Smarter (Concise Advice)


Phil Dobson - 2016
    Grounded in research you'll learn prac-tical techniques to keep your brain in top condition, train your brain to think more effectively, and discover the principles to working smart rather than hard.You'll discover how to: Boost your mental performance and health, Develop your focus and productivity, Improve your memory and learning, Enhance your problem solving and creativity, Keep your brain young and adaptable.LID Publishing's popular Concise Advice Lab notebooks are designed to be quick and comprehensive brainstorming tools and skill-building resources for busy professionals. The small trim size makes it easy to take along in a briefcase or purse. Interior pages are matte finish, so ink won't smear, and there's plenty of space to jot notes. A ribbon makes it easy to mark your place, and the elastic outer band keeps the notebook closed.

The MIND diet, nutrition to help prevent Alzheimer's disease. Your brain could be suffering without your knowledge


Víctor R. Ramos - 2016
    Many continue to follow fad diets, but most do it for aesthetic reasons or health problems.Some popular diets like the Mediterranean and DASH diets are specifically focused on preventing cardiovascular disease and hypertension.And what about the brain? We have left it to the mercy of our bad eating habits, preservatives in processed foods, excess sugar and fat, and environmental contaminants. All this happens because our brain does not complain – it does not have pain receptors – so we are not aware of its suffering and deterioration until it is too late.It is time to take care of our brain and prevent it from failing before the rest of our body by following a healthy diet that maintains its health and proper functioning.In "The MIND Diet, Nutrition to Help Prevent Alzheimer's Disease,” you will discover what Alzheimer’s is and its causes and symptoms, among other topics, including a nutritional strategy for your daily life – all with a simple and direct style, addressed to the general public.As an easy-to-follow diet based on the latest scientific studies, the MIND diet can improve your overall health and dramatically reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer's disease.

When Brains Collide: What Every Athlete and Parent Should Know About the Prevention and Treatment of Concussions and Head Injuries


Michael D. Lewis - 2016
    Whether they are in a car accident, fall off their bike, or suffer a helmet-to-helmet hit at football practice, over 30% of such concussions will lead to long-term, potentially permanent disability. Even worse, many of these concussions are mild and go unnoticed and untreated. However, whether you are a concerned parent or an athlete worried about that recent or long-ago head injury, there is good news. The proper utilization of Omega-3 fatty acids and their nutritional potential to feed and cultivate the brain’s biochemical environment can facilitate the concussion healing process, relieve symptoms without pharmaceuticals, and increase the chance for a happy and healthy future. Culminating a career spanning over three decades in the U.S. Army, Dr. Michael Lewis developed The Omega-3 Protocol, the military-grade brain injury treatment process for dealing with the concussive dangers of everyday life. Concussions are not always preventable, but they are treatable. Find out how to give yourself or your loved one the best chance at recovery from brain injuries—large or small—by learning everything about, and becoming ready to apply, The Omega-3 Protocol today.

The Ancient Origins of Consciousness: How the Brain Created Experience


Todd E. Feinberg - 2016
    About 520 to 560 million years ago, they explain, the great "Cambrian explosion" of animal diversity produced the first complex brains, which were accompanied by the first appearance of consciousness; simple reflexive behaviors evolved into a unified inner world of subjective experiences. From this they deduce that all vertebrates are and have always been conscious -- not just humans and other mammals, but also every fish, reptile, amphibian, and bird. Considering invertebrates, they find that arthropods (including insects and probably crustaceans) and cephalopods (including the octopus) meet many of the criteria for consciousness. The obvious and conventional wisdom--shattering implication is that consciousness evolved simultaneously but independently in the first vertebrates and possibly arthropods more than half a billion years ago. Combining evolutionary, neurobiological, and philosophical approaches allows Feinberg and Mallatt to offer an original solution to the "hard problem" of consciousness.

Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Different Sensory Experiences - Different Perceptual Worlds


T.O. Daria - 2016
    The author covers the sensory perceptual experiences and sensitivities seen in autism spectrum conditions, and the cognitive differences caused by them. She considers assessment and intervention, and makes practical recommendations for selecting appropriate methods and techniques to eliminate sensory perceptual problems and enhance individual strengths.Brought up-to-date with current research and the latest thinking on autism, this book enables teachers, parents, professionals and individuals with autism fully to understand and address the problematic aspects of the sensory perceptual differences of people with autism spectrum conditions.

The Power Brain: Five Steps to Upgrading Your Brain Operating System


Ilchi Lee - 2016
    Every great accomplishment human beings have achieved was the work of the brain. In fact, our brains possess infinite potential that allows us to do and be anything. By using this potential well, we become a "Power Brain" that can not only create our personal fate, but that of the entire planet. To develop our brains' potential, it's useful to liken the brain to a computer with an operating system. We have a Brain Operating System (BOS) composed of our beliefs and preconceptions that we can change and upgrade until our brains run optimally. Recognizing the potential in our brain beyond what we've been able to use so far, Ilchi Lee began investigating brain development principles and methods. He compiled them into a comprehensive self-development system with five steps called Brain Education. Refined over the years by new scientific research and the experiences of those who use it, Brain Education has become an academic discipline that's presented in a variety of ways, including school educational programs and corporate training. While The Power Brain is primarily about the brain, this book does not focus on the anatomical or neuro-physiological functions of the brain. Rather, it serves as a Brain Operating System user's manual that describes how to use our brain to discover our value, recreate the story of our lives, and claim a new destiny. Improving our lives, and consequently, our world, through brain development is a skill that anyone can understand, practice, and apply to everyday life.

Art Therapy, Trauma, and Neuroscience: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives


Juliet L. King - 2016
    Recognizing the importance of understanding both art therapy and trauma studies as brain-based interventions, some of the most renowned figures in art therapy and trauma use translational and integrative neuroscience to provide theoretical and applied techniques. Therapists will come away from this book with tools for a refined understanding of brain-based interventions in a dynamic yet accessible format.

Music and Embodied Cognition: Listening, Moving, Feeling, and Thinking


Arnie Cox - 2016
    In this pioneering study that draws upon neuroscience and music theory, phenomenology and cognitive science, Cox advances his theory of the "mimetic hypothesis," the notion that a large part of our experience and understanding of music involves an embodied imitation in the listener of bodily motions and exertions that are involved in producing music. Through an often unconscious imitation of action and sound, we feel the music as it moves and grows. With applications to tonal and post-tonal Western classical music, to Western vernacular music, and to non-Western music, Cox s work stands to expand the range of phenomena that can be explained by the role of sensory, motor, and affective aspects of human experience and cognition."

The Athletic Brain: How Neuroscience is Revolutionising Sport and Can Help You Perform Better


Amit Katwala - 2016
    The minds of elite athletes can pull off feats of anticipation and co-ordination that amateurs would find impossible. The athletic brain has been trained through hours and hours of practice - years of sweat and toil. But what if there were a shortcut to training your brain?Cognitive training tools offer the tantalising possibility of breaking the '10,000-hour rule'. Top-level athletes and teams are increasingly tapping into new knowledge of the brain to develop tools and techniques that can offer a shortcut to sporting success, or push the boundaries of performance beyond its current limits. Increasingly, these tools are becoming available to the ordinary amateur, revolutionising the ways in which anyone can improve their skills.Based on interviews with top athletes and the scientists working at the cutting edge of our knowledge, Amit Katwala provides a fascinating insight into the possibilities that are becoming open to us all. He takes us to see how Borussia Dortmund's 'Footbonaut' and touchscreen-based games in the NFL have been achieving excellent results. As with bestsellers such as The Chimp Paradoxand Bounce, by the end of this book, readers will look at sporting performance in a new light, and be able to apply these insights to their own lives.

Singing In My Own Key: A Vocalist's Triumph Over Stroke


Valerie L. Giglio - 2016
    Completely paralyzed on one side, confined to a wheelchair, her singing voice stolen from her at the height of her career, Valerie was devastated. But with fierce determination and fortitude, and the support of her loving family and a wonderful healthcare team, Valerie faced down every setback and obstacle in her path. Overcoming paralysis and regaining her singing voice, she returned to the stage just one year later. The story of this woman's miraculous journey allows you to travel with Valerie on her path to an extraordinary recovery. Singing In My Own Key is a story of hope and faith that will leave you deeply inspired.

The Human Advantage: A New Understanding of How Our Brain Became Remarkable


Suzana Herculano-Houzel - 2016
    Our brains are gigantic, seven times larger than they should be for the size of our bodies. The human brain uses 25% of all the energy the body requires each day. And it became enormous in a very short amount of time in evolution, allowing us to leave our cousins, the great apes, behind. So the human brain is special, right? Wrong, according to Suzana Herculano-Houzel. Humans have developed cognitive abilities that outstrip those of all other animals, but not because we are evolutionary outliers. The human brain was not singled out to become amazing in its own exclusive way, and it never stopped being a primate brain. If we are not an exception to the rules of evolution, then what is the source of the human advantage?Herculano-Houzel shows that it is not the size of our brain that matters but the fact that we have more neurons in the cerebral cortex than any other animal, thanks to our ancestors' invention, some 1.5 million years ago, of a more efficient way to obtain calories: cooking. Because we are primates, ingesting more calories in less time made possible the rapid acquisition of a huge number of neurons in the still fairly small cerebral cortex--the part of the brain responsible for finding patterns, reasoning, developing technology, and passing it on through culture.Herculano-Houzel shows us how she came to these conclusions--making "brain soup" to determine the number of neurons in the brain, for example, and bringing animal brains in a suitcase through customs. The Human Advantage is an engaging and original look at how we became remarkable without ever being special.

Making Sense: A Guide to Sensory Issues


Rachel Schneider - 2016
    What may surprise you is that we re not all wired the same way, and some of us are unable to understand exactly what we re sensing. People with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), a newly identified neurological condition, as well as those with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), are frequently misunderstood by others when they over- or under-react to sounds, sights, smells, tastes, touch, movement, balance, and feelings within their bodies. In this guide, mental health counselor, SPD community advocate, and sensory adult Rachel S. Schneider, M.A., MHC, helps us to make sense of sensory issues. Whether you re someone with sensory issues, a loved one supporting a sensory person, a professional, or someone that is curious about unusual and complex sensory experiences, this guide will answer your questions about life with sensory processing differences. Illustrations by Kelly Dillon of the humorous illustrated sensory blog, Eating Off Plastic."

After a Stroke: 500 Tips for Living Well


Cleo Hutton - 2016
     Updated and expanded new edition of the popular resource written by a stroke survivor who has spent 24 years helping other survivors live life to thefullest potential. , After a Stroke: 500 Tips for Living Well is filled with practical tips and support to help you cope with the lifestyle changesthat come in the wake of a stroke. This book will show you how to: Get the medical care you need Become familiar with robotics and other modern tools to help prevent spasticity and make daily life easier Navigate personal relationships as one partner becomes a survivor and another a caregiver Incorporate alternative and integrative therapies into your recovery Connect with organizations and outreach centers for stroke patients Get the most out of home care Cut through rhetoric with frank, candid, and truthful answers to Frequently Asked Questions The second edition includes five totally new chapters, and covers the latest in stroke prevention, medical treatment, and rehabilitation to help survivorstransition from being a patient to returning to a life well-lived.

Smart and SeXy


Roderick Kaine - 2016
    It also provides evolutionary rationales for why and how sex differences in intelligence evolved to begin with; and it does so without concern for what is or is not politically correct. With the "acceptable" narrative abandoned, it openly and honestly explores the differences between the genders. Roderick Kaine is an American who has a degree in biochemistry, and he has done professional research in both Biology and Neuroscience. After moving on from this work, he has focused on writing and independent scholarship. He has been active in the neoreactionary movement, where he writes under the name Atavisionary (www.atavisionary.com).

The Price of Linguistic Productivity: How Children Learn to Break the Rules of Language


Charles Yang - 2016
    How does a young child tease them apart within just a few years of language acquisition? In this book, drawing an economic analogy, Charles Yang argues that just as the price of goods is determined by the balance between supply and demand, the price of linguistic productivity arises from the quantitative considerations of rules and exceptions. The learner postulates a productive rule only if it results in a more efficient organization of language, with the number of exceptions fallingbelow a critical threshold.Supported by a wide range of cases with corpus evidence, Yang's Tolerance Principle gives a unified account of many long-standing puzzles in linguistics and psychology, including why children effortlessly acquire rules of language that perplex otherwise capable adults. His focus on computational efficiency provides novel insight on how language interacts with the other components of cognition and how the ability for language might haveemergedduring the course of human evolution."

Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind: The Theories of Julian Jaynes


Marcel Kuijsten - 2016
    Offering an alternate view of the history of the human mind, Julian Jaynes’s ideas challenge our preconceptions of not only the origin of the modern mind, but the origin of gods and religion, the nature of mental illness, and the future potential of consciousness. The tremendous explanatory power of Jaynes’s ideas force us to reevaluate much of what we thought we knew about human history.Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind both explains Julian Jaynes’s theory and explores a wide range of related topics such as the ancient Dark Age, the nature of dreams and the birth of Greek tragedy, poetic inspiration, the significance of hearing voices in both the ancient and modern world, the development of consciousness in children, the transition to consciousness in early Tibet, the relationship of consciousness and metaphorical language, and how Jaynes’s ideas compare to those of other thinkers.

The Circle of Memory: An Autobiography


Subhash Kak - 2016
    In addition to many personal anecdotes about his family and colleagues, it describes how his research that began with computer science came to embrace neural networks, quantum theory, history of science and the arts. It presents accounts of his discoveries in artificial intelligence, quantum theory, and Vedic astronomy, and how he became a part of a new movement trying to develop a science of consciousness.

Criminal Genius: A Portrait of High-IQ Offenders


James C. Oleson - 2016
    Little, however, is known about the criminal behavior of those with above-average IQ scores. This book provides some of the first empirical information about the self-reported crimes of people with genius-level IQ scores. Combining quantitative data from 72 different offenses with qualitative data from 44 follow-up interviews, this book describes the nature of high-IQ crime while shedding light on a population of offenders often ignored in research and sensationalized in media.

The Pragmatic Turn: Toward Action-Oriented Views in Cognitive Science


Andreas K. Engel - 2016
    In this volume, experts from cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, robotics, and philosophy of mind assess the foundations and implications of a novel action-oriented view of cognition.Their contributions and supporting experimental evidence show that an enactive approach to cognitive science enables strong conceptual advances, and the chapters explore key concepts for this new model of cognition. The contributors discuss the implications of an enactive approach for cognitive development; action-oriented models of cognitive processing; action-oriented understandings of consciousness and experience; and the accompanying paradigm shifts in the fields of philosophy, brain science, robotics, and psychology.ContributorsMoshe Bar, Lawrence W. Barsalov, Olaf Blanke, Jeannette Bohg, Martin V. Butz, Peter F. Dominey, Andreas K. Engel, Judith M. Ford, Karl J. Friston, Chris D. Frith, Shaun Gallagher, Antonia Hamilton, Tobias Heed, Cecilia Heyes, Elisabeth Hill, Matej Hoffmann, Jakob Hohwy, Bernhard Hommel, Atsushi Iriki, Pierre Jacob, Henrik J�rntell, J�rgen Jost, James Kilner, G�nther Knoblich, Peter K�nig, Danica Kragic, Miriam Kyselo, Alexander Maye, Marek McGann, Richard Menary, Thomas Metzinger, Ezequiel Morsella, Saskia Nagel, Kevin J. O'Regan, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Giovanni Pezzulo, Tony J. Prescott, Wolfgang Prinz, Friedemann Pulverm�ller, Robert Rupert, Marti Sanchez-Fibla, Andrew Schwartz, Anil K. Seth, Vicky Southgate, Antonella Tramacere, John K. Tsotsos, Paul F. M. J. Verschure, Gabriella Vigliocco, Gottfried Vosgerau

Cerebral Cortex: Principles of Operation


Edmund T Rolls - 2016
    A truly landmark achievement by a neuroscientist who has brought together his lifetime of research knowledge and experience into this outstanding volume. Edmund Rolls is to be congratulated on this impressive synthesis of decades of neuroscience data."David Nutt, Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and President of the European Brain CouncilThe aim of this book is to provide insight into the principles of operation of the cerebral cortex. These principles are key to understanding how we, as humans, function.There have been few previous attempts to set out some of the important principles of operation of the cortex, and this book is pioneering. The book goes beyond separate connectional neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychiatric, and computational neuroscience approaches, by combining evidence from all these areas to formulate hypotheses about how and what the cerebral cortex computes. As clear hypotheses are needed in this most important area of 21st century science, how our brains work, the author has formulated a set of hypotheses about the principles of cortical operation to guide thinking and future research.The book focusses on the principles of operation of the cerebral cortex, because at this time it is possible to propose and describe many principles, and many are likely to stand the test of time, and provide a foundation for further developments, even if some need to be changed. In this context, I have not attempted to produce an overall theory of operation of the cerebral cortex, because at this stage of our understanding, such a theory would be incorrect or incomplete. However, many of the principles described will provide the foundations for more complete theories of the operation of the cerebral cortex. This book is intended to provide a foundation for future understanding, and it is hoped that future work will develop and add to these principles of operation of the cerebral cortex.The book includes Appendices on the operation of many of the neuronal networks described in the book, together with simulation software written in Matlab.This book will be valuable to all those interested in understanding our cerebral cortex and how it operates to account for many aspects of brain function and cognitive function in health and disease. The book is relevant to those in the areas of neuroscience, neurology, psychology, psychiatry, computational neuroscience, biology, and philosophy.Professor Edmund T. Rolls performs full-time research at the Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, and is professor of Computational Neuroscience at the University of Warwick, and has acted as Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, and as Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. His research links neurophysiological and computational neuroscience approaches to human functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies in order to provide a fundamental basis for understanding human brain function and its disorders.

Neuroscience for Leaders: A Brain Adaptive Leadership Approach


Nikolaos Dimitriadis - 2016
    Using the latest insights from applied neuroscience, behavioral economics and psychology, Neuroscience for Leaders demonstrates how to become a better leader through brain-based learning.Nikolaos Dimitriadis and Alexandros Psychogios provide a step-by-step framework for fine-tuning brain functions in four key areas: enhancing the thought process, understanding and nurturing emotions, shaping automated brain responses, and developing dynamic relations. They explain the underlying science behind these steps, why they are important to the business environment, and how they can be improved.With case studies, self-assessment tools and useful exercises, Neuroscience for Leaders is a valuable guide for managers and leaders looking to improve leadership effectiveness.

The Secret World of the Brain


Catherine Loveday - 2016
    This engaging new book delves into how we use our brains in everyday life and uncovers the crucial workings of this vital organ. How does our brain store memories? How does the brain process emotion? How do we recognize faces? What is dreaming? What does it mean to be conscious? How do injuries and diseases disrupt brain function? Are male and female brains any different? What is really happening in the teenage brain? From revealing how the brain controls our basic functions such as speech, vision and movement to how it determines our perceptions, contributes to our personalities and affects our emotions, this beautifully illustrated book unlocks the key questions about the brain.

Neuroscience for Organizational Change: An Evidence-based Practical Guide to Managing Change


Hilary Scarlett - 2016
    Each chapter includes illustrations, solutions and examples of what other companies have done, and questions/checklist at the end.

Bird Brain: An Exploration of Avian Intelligence


Nathan J. Emery - 2016
    Yet in the past two decades, the study of avian intelligence has witnessed dramatic advances. From a time when birds were seen as simple instinct machines responding only to stimuli in their external worlds, we now know that some birds have complex internal worlds as well. This beautifully illustrated book provides an engaging exploration of the avian mind, revealing how science is exploding one of the most widespread myths about our feathered friends--and changing the way we think about intelligence in other animals as well.Bird Brain looks at the structures and functions of the avian brain, and describes the extraordinary behaviors that different types of avian intelligence give rise to. It offers insights into crows, jays, magpies, and other corvids--the "masterminds" of the avian world--as well as parrots and some less-studied species from around the world. This lively and accessible book shows how birds have sophisticated brains with abilities previously thought to be uniquely human, such as mental time travel, self-recognition, empathy, problem solving, imagination, and insight.Written by a leading expert and featuring a foreword by Frans de Waal, renowned for his work on animal intelligence, Bird Brain shines critical new light on the mental lives of birds.

Shadow Light: Illuminations at the Edge of Darkness


Keith Witt - 2016
    Our Shadow self monitors hundreds of thousands of inputs from the world and our body/mind systems, processes the information, and constantly sends constructive and destructive messages into our conscious awareness in the forms of sensations, feelings, impulses, stories, and thoughts. This Shadow material is generated in less than a tenth of a second, and our conscious selves become more or less aware of it after one or two seconds, leaving our conscious awareness always one step behind the non-conscious flood of Shadow material. Personal development is largely growth of our Shadow selves--our adaptive unconscious in which resides our deepest senses of self, morality, intimacy, vulnerability, and spirituality. Shadow Light offers a wealth of research, ideas, and practices to help us grow our Shadow selves and accelerate personal evolution.