Neuroscience

Cajal's Butterflies of the Soul: Science and Art

Javier DeFelipe

This book contains a large collection of beautiful figures produced throughout the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, which represent some characteristic examples of the early days ... More

This book contains a large collection of beautiful figures produced throughout the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, which represent some characteristic examples of the early days of research in neuroscience. The main aim of this work is to demonstrate to the general public that the study of the nervous system is not only important for the many obvious reasons related to brain function in both health and disease, but also for the unexpected natural beauty that it beholds. This beauty has been discovered thanks to the techniques used to visualize the microscopic structure of the brain, a true forest of colorful and florid neural cells. As illustrated by his marvelous drawings, the studies of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) no doubt contributed more than those of any other researcher at the time to the growth of modern neuroscience. Thus, his name has been honored in the title of this book, even though the figures contained in the main body of it are from 91 different authors. Looking at the illustrations in this book, the readers will find that many of the early researchers that studied the nervous system were also true artists, of considerable talent and esthetic sensibility. Hence, the present book contains numerous drawings of some of the most important pioneers in neuroscience, including Deiters, Kolliker, Meynert, Ranvier, Golgi, Retzius, Nissl, Dogiel, Alzheimer, del Rio-Hortega, and de Castro. Less

Cajal's Degeneration and Regeneration of the Nervous System

Santiago Ramon y Cajal, R. M. May

Javier DeFelipe, Edward G. Jones (eds)

This book is a reprint of an English translation of Cajal's original work, with abundant notes and commentaries by the editor. Cajal's fundamental contributions to neuroscience continue ... More

This book is a reprint of an English translation of Cajal's original work, with abundant notes and commentaries by the editor. Cajal's fundamental contributions to neuroscience continue to be important today and this account accurately details his ideas and data. The book also provides readers with the opportunity to learn what Cajal thought about his research career and the significance of his observations. Excerpts from Tello's memorial lectures also provide a contemporary view of Cajal's work. Less

Central Regulation of Autonomic Functions

Ida J. Llewellyn-Smith, Anthony J. M. Verberne (eds)

Central autonomic circuits in the brain and spinal cord are essential to vertebrate life. They control all basic bodily functions, including blood pressure, body temperature regulation, ... More

Central autonomic circuits in the brain and spinal cord are essential to vertebrate life. They control all basic bodily functions, including blood pressure, body temperature regulation, digestion, and reproduction. This book presents the extraordinary advances that have been made over the last twenty years in the understanding of how our central nervous system controls autonomic function. The first nine chapters describe central autonomic circuits from the cerebral cortex to the periphery. Eight additional chapters address specific bodily functions and their control by central autonomic circuits. Two additional chapters discuss cardio-respiratory integration and regulation of autonomic function by visceral and somatic afferents. All of the chapters are up-to-date and cover topics such as the central autonomic regulation of airways, gastrointestinal function, energy homeostasis, body temperature, and sexual function, reflecting the latest research. Less

Cephalopod Neurobiology: Neuroscience Studies in Squid, Octopus and Cuttlefish

N. Joan Abbott, Roddy Williamson, Linda Maddock (eds)

Cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) are among the most intelligent invertebrates, with highly developed nervous systems that provide excellent model systems for investigating basic ... More

Cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) are among the most intelligent invertebrates, with highly developed nervous systems that provide excellent model systems for investigating basic questions in neuroscience. In 32 chapters, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the functioning of the cephalopod nervous system, from the cellular level to their complex sensory systems, locomotion, learning and social behaviour. Less

The Clinical Neurobiology of the Hippocampus: An integrative view

Thorsten Bartsch (ed.)

The hippocampus is one of the most studied structures in the human brain and plays a pivotal role in human memory function. It's recognized function is reflected by the presence of an ... More

The hippocampus is one of the most studied structures in the human brain and plays a pivotal role in human memory function. It's recognized function is reflected by the presence of an extensive body of neurophysiological, neuropsychological, anatomical, and neurocomputational literature that presents basic mechanisms, theoretical models, and psychological concepts. However, in the rapidly growing field of hippocampal research, the clinical aspects of diseases that affect the hippocampus are greatly under-represented, and clinical approaches and concepts are scattered throughout various clinical and basic scientific disciplines. This book explores clinical approaches to the range of diseases that affect the hippocampus. It brings together and reviews the common methods, clinical findings, concepts, mechanisms and, where applicable, therapeutic strategies for these clinical approaches. The clinical spectrum of hippocampal dysfunction encompasses a wide range of neurological, behavioural, and psychiatric symptoms and surpasses the ability to encode, store, and retrieve information. The relevance of hippocampal involvement in clinical diseases goes beyond mere neuropsychological deficits and includes psychopathological states in various conditions, such as acute amnesic syndromes, Alzheimer's disease, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), sleep, stroke medicine, limbic encephalitis, neurodevelopmental disorders, stress- and trauma-related disorders, depression, and schizophrenia. Less

Cognition and Neural Development

Don Tucker, Phan Luu

Scientific research shows how experience shapes the organization of the human brain through mechanisms of neural plasticity, which capture the information of the world within the connections among ... More

Scientific research shows how experience shapes the organization of the human brain through mechanisms of neural plasticity, which capture the information of the world within the connections among neurons. To understand this plasticity, it is important to look to the developmental mechanisms through which the brain grows from a single cell in embryogenesis to achieve the complex architecture of the human brain. The process of neural morphogenesis involves exuberant formation of neuronal connections, and then subtractive elimination of unused connections. This process is continued after birth, providing the neural plasticity of learning that allows cognitive development in infancy and childhood. Recognizing this continuity suggests an interesting insight—cognition is a reflection of neural development throughout the life span. This book examines the embryonic development of the brain to appreciate the dimensions of developmental momentum that shape the neural and psychological development of our lives. Human brain embryogenesis involves gradients of trophic factors that guide the migration of neurons from ventricular proliferative zones to organize the architecture of the cerebral hemispheres. The architecture of human cognition involves a functional differentiation of dorsal (pyramidal) and ventral (granular) corticolimbic divisions. This differentiation is a defining feature of not just human but mammalian neuroanatomy. The separation of pyramidal and granular cortical architectures appeared with the evolution of the six-layered mammalian neocortex from the three-layered primitive general cortex of reptiles and amphibians. The functional differentiation of the dorsal and ventral divisions of the cerebral hemispheres has been shown to be integral to multiple levels of psychological function, from elementary motivation to the most complex forms of executive self-regulation.Less

Cognitive Neurology: A clinical textbook

Stefano Cappa, Jubin Abutalebi, Jean-Francois Demonet, Paul Fletcher, Peter Garrard (eds)

The study of patients affected by disorders of the central nervous system is one of the crucial research methods for investigating the organization of cognitive functions in the brain. ... More

The study of patients affected by disorders of the central nervous system is one of the crucial research methods for investigating the organization of cognitive functions in the brain. However, many clinicians remain unaware of the significant advances that have taken place in the field of cognitive neuroscience in the last decades. This book provides an introduction to the cognitive and behavioural aspects of the clinical practice of neurology. Most of the contributors combine an active clinical practice with a leading role in their respective research area, and have provided concise summaries of the theoretical advances that they consider to be potentially relevant for the clinical evaluation and treatment of patients. This general approach has led to a format which is different from the many textbooks of neuropsychology that have appeared in the last few years. The organization of the material follows the main issues of diagnostic evaluation, clinical presentation, and management. As a consequence, the book deals not only with the classical neuropsychological syndromes associated with stroke and degenerative dementias, but also with other common clinical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, head injury, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders, which are often neglected in neuropsychology textbooks. Less

Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging

Roberto Cabeza, Lars Nyberg, Denise Park (eds)

Until very recently, our knowledge about the neural basis of cognitive aging was based on two disciplines that had very little contact with each other. Whereas the neuroscience of aging ... More

Until very recently, our knowledge about the neural basis of cognitive aging was based on two disciplines that had very little contact with each other. Whereas the neuroscience of aging investigated the effects of aging on the brain independently of age-related changes in cognition, the cognitive psychology of aging investigated the effects of aging on cognition independently of age-related changes in the brain. The lack of communication between these two disciplines is currently being addressed by an increasing number of studies that focus on the relationships between cognitive aging and cerebral aging. This rapidly growing body of research has come to constitute a new discipline, which may be called cognitive neuroscience of aging. The goal of this book is to introduce this new discipline. This book is divided into four main sections. The first section describes non-invasive measures of cerebral aging, including structural (e.g., volumetric MRI), chemical (e.g., dopamine PET), electrophysiological (e.g., ERPs), and hemodynamic (e.g., fMRI), and discusses how they can be linked to behavioral measures of cognitive aging. The second section reviews evidence for the effects of aging on neural activity during different cognitive functions, including perception and attention, imagery, working memory, long-term memory, and prospective memory. The third section focuses on clinical and applied topics, such as the distinction between healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease and the use of cognitive training to ameliorate age-related cognitive decline. The last section describes theories that relate cognitive and cerebral aging, including models accounting for functional neuroimaging evidence and models supported by computer simulations. Less

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory: An Introduction

Howard Eichenbaum

This book details the brain's remarkable capacity for memory. The book is organized into sections corresponding to its four major themes: Connection considers how memory is based on ... More

This book details the brain's remarkable capacity for memory. The book is organized into sections corresponding to its four major themes: Connection considers how memory is based on alterations to the communication between nerve cells. Cognition discusses the fundamental psychological structure of memory. Compartmentalization involved the notion that the different forms of memory are accomplished by distinct brain systems. Consolidation refers to processes by which memories are transformed from a labile trace into a permanent store. The book provides insights into how memory works and how it is fundamental to all aspects of cognition, behavior, and emotion. Less

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory: An Introduction

Howard Eichenbaum

This book introduces the brain's remarkable capacity for memory. Like the first edition, this updated second edition begins with a history of memory research, starting with a ‘Golden ... More

This book introduces the brain's remarkable capacity for memory. Like the first edition, this updated second edition begins with a history of memory research, starting with a ‘Golden Era’ at the turn of the 20th century, and progressing to our current understanding of the neurobiology of memory. Subsequent sections of the book discuss the cellular basis of memory, amnesia in humans and animals, the physiology of memory; declarative, procedural, and emotional memory systems; memory consolidation, and the control of memory by the prefrontal cortex. The book is organized into four sections, which highlight the major themes of the text. The first theme is connection, which considers how memory is fundamentally based on alterations in the connectivity of neurons. The first section of the book covers the most well studied models of cellular mechanisms of neural plasticity that may underlie memory. The second theme is cognition, which involves fundamental issues in the psychological structure of memory. This next section of the book considers the competition among views on the nature of cognitive processes that underlie memory, and tells how the controversy was eventually resolved. The third theme is compartmentalization, which is akin to the classic problem of memory localization. However, unlike localization, the notion of ‘compartments’ is intended to avoid the notion that particular memories are pigeon-holed into specific loci, and instead emphasize that different forms of memory are accomplished by distinct modules or brain systems. This third section of the book surveys the evidence for multiple memory systems, and outlines how they are mediated by different brain structures and systems. The fourth and final theme is consolidation, the process by which memories are transformed from a labile trace into a permanent store. Less