Overview

Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970'sLThe importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan brain have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter.LThe book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way.

Full Product Details

Author:   Larry W. Swanson, PhD
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 13.90cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 21.00cm
Weight:   0.328kg
ISBN:  

9780195105056

ISBN 10:   0195105052
Pages:   282
Publication Date:   31 October 2002
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Unknown
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

1. How the Brain Works: Structure and Function; 2. The Simplest Nervous Systems: Neurons, Nerve Nets, and Behaviour; 3. Centralization and Symmetry: Ganglia and Nerves; 4. The Basic Vertebrate Plan: Nervous System Topology; 5. Brain and Behaviour: A Four Systems Network Model; 6. The Motor System: Coordinating External and Internal Behaviours; 7. The Behavioural State System: Intrinsic Control of Sleep and Wakefulness; 8. The Cognitive System: Thinking and Voluntary Control of Behaviour; 9. The Sensory System: Inputs from the Environment and the Body; 10. Modifiability: Learning, Stress, Cycles, and Damage Repair; 11. Gene Networks: Relationship to Neural Networks; APPENDICES; A. DESCRIBING POSITION IN THE ANIMAL BODY; B. NAMING AND CLASSIFYING NERVOUS SYSTEM PARTS; C. METHODS FOR ANALYZING BRAIN ARCHITECTURE

Reviews

Larry Swanson, one of the great contemporary students of brain anatomy, has given us a broad overview of the structure and function of the brain using insights from embryology and from evolutionary comparison to highlight the principles that govern the anatomical substrates of behavior. This book will be read avidly by both students and practicing scientists. Eric R Kandel MD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine

Larry Swanson, one of the great contemporary students of brain anatomy, has given us a broad overview of the structure and function of the brain using insights from embryology and from evolutionary comparison to highlight the principles that govern the anatomical substrates of behavior. This book will be read avidly by both students and practicing scientists. Eric R Kandel MD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine

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