Recently added to the River Campus Libraries' book and ebook collections:
Brain, Decision Making and Mental Health by
Brain, Decision Making, and Mental Health acknowledges that thinking is not a constant phenomenon but varies considerably across cultures. Critical thinking is particularly important in bridging thinking divisions and its applicability across sciences, particularly medical sciences. We see critical thinking as educable and the arts as means to achieve this purpose. We address the multidimensional relationship between thinking and health and related mechanisms. Thinking mainly affects emotion regulation and executive function; in other words, both mental and physical health are related as a function of thoughts. Considering the thinking‐feeling‐emotion regulation/executive function pathway, it would be reasonable to propose thinking capacities‐based interventions to impact emotion regulation and executive function, such as mindfulness and psychotherapy. We review decision-making taking place in integrated and social contexts and discuss the decision-making styles-decision outcomes relation. Finally, artificial thinking and intelligence prepare us for decision-making outside the human mind.
The Brain and Pain: Breakthroughs in Neuroscience by
Pain is an inevitable part of existence, but severe debilitating or chronic pain is a pathological condition that diminishes the quality of life. The Brain and Pain explores the present and future of pain management, providing a comprehensive understanding based on the latest discoveries from many branches of neuroscience. Richard Ambron--the former director of a neuroscience lab that conducted leading research in this field--explains the science of how and why we feel pain. He describes how the nervous system and brain process information that leads to the experience of pain, detailing the cellular and molecular functions that are responsible for the initial perceptions of an injury. He discusses how pharmacological agents such as opiates affect the duration and intensity of pain. Ambron examines new evidence showing that discrete circuits in the brain modulate the experience of pain in response to a placebo, fear, anxiety, belief, or other circumstances, as well as how pain can be relieved by activating these circuits using mindfulness training and other nonpharmacological treatments. The book also evaluates the prospects of procedures such as deep brain stimulation and optogenetics. Current and thorough, The Brain and Pain will be invaluable for a range of people seeking to understand their options for treatment as well as students in neuroscience and medicine.
The Brain in Motion: From Microcircuits to Global Brain Function by
An evolutionary perspective--from lampreys to humans--on how the forebrain coordinates movement while the networks in the brainstem and spinal cord handle the execution. All living creatures interact with their environment: even the most basic have a set of innate motor circuits they rely on to feed, locomote, fight, and flee. In The Brain in Motion, Sten Grillner describes the evolution of the motor repertoire of vertebrates, from protovertebrates to primates. With breadth and depth, Grillner explores how the brain uses the different microcircuits in the brainstem and spinal cord, coordinating them through commands from the forebrain. He also considers the normal function of the brain as a platform for understanding clinical conditions such as stroke, Parkinson´s and Huntington´s diseases, and spinal cord injury. Grillner also explains in The Brain in Motion how the remarkable finding that the lamprey forebrain has all the components of the mammalian one has radically changed scientists' views on the evolutionary origin of the vertebrate forebrain. We now know that the basic organization evolved 560 rather than 300 million years ago, as was previously thought. The forebrain, says Grillner, is like an orchestra conductor, while the microcircuits, with their reaching, grasping, posture, locomotion, and numerous other patterns of behavior, correspond to the members of the orchestra. The conductor determines when each will be called into action. Providing an elegantly integrated perspective, The Brain in Motion is essential reading for anybody that works professionally with movement control and function and dysfunction, whether in basic research, clinically, or in the training of motor skills.
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Development by
How does cognition develop in infants, children and adolescents? This handbook presents a cutting-edge overview of the field of cognitive development, spanning basic methodology, key domain-based findings and applications. Part One covers the neurobiological constraints and laws of brain development, while Part Two covers the fundamentals of cognitive development from birth to adulthood: object, number, categorization, reasoning, decision-making and socioemotional cognition. The final Part Three covers educational and school-learning domains, including numeracy, literacy, scientific reasoning skills, working memory and executive skills, metacognition, curiosity-driven active learning and more. Featuring chapters written by the world's leading scholars in experimental and developmental psychology, as well as in basic neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience, computational modelling and developmental robotics, this collection is the most comprehensive reference work to date on cognitive development of the twenty-first century. It will be a vital resource for scholars and graduate students in developmental psychology, neuroeducation and the cognitive sciences.
The Cambridge Handbook of Working Memory and Language by
Bringing together cutting-edge research, this Handbook is the first comprehensive text to examine the pivotal role of working memory in first and second language acquisition, processing, impairments, and training. Authored by a stellar cast of distinguished scholars from around the world, the Handbook provides authoritative insights on work from diverse, multi-disciplinary perspectives, and introduces key models of working memory in relation to language. Following an introductory chapter by working memory pioneer Alan Baddeley, the collection is organized into thematic sections that discuss working memory in relation to: Theoretical models and measures; Linguistic theories and frameworks; First language processing; Bilingual acquisition and processing; and Language disorders, interventions, and instruction. The Handbook is sure to interest and benefit researchers, clinicians, speech therapists, and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in linguistics, psychology, education, speech therapy, cognitive science, and neuroscience, or anyone seeking to learn more about language, cognition and the human mind.
Cannabis and the Developing Brain by
Marijuana is the most commonly used psychotropic drug in the United States, after alcohol. With the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis, momentum continues to build and propelled by the reduction of stigma associated to its consumption, there is growing concern regarding the long-term impact on brain function and behavior. Cannabis and the Developing Brain aims to provide comprehensive research on the effects of cannabis during neurodevelopment stages (i.e., perinatal and adolescent ages). This book introduces readers to vivo neural circuits, molecular and cellular mechanisms affected by cannabis exposure during three different temporal windows of brain vulnerability. Second, it offers a unique insight to shared neurobiological features of cannabinoid exposure during different developmental periods. Lastly, Cannabis and the Developing Brain determines the adverse impact of developmental cannabinoid exposure on specific cognition, emotion and behaviors.
The Cognitive Science of Belief: A Multidisciplinary Approach by
Beliefs play a central role in our lives. They lie at the heart of what makes us human, they shape the organization and functioning of our minds, they define the boundaries of our culture, and they guide our motivation and behavior. Given their central importance, researchers across a number of disciplines have studied beliefs, leading to results and literatures that do not always interact. The Cognitive Science of Belief aims to integrate these disconnected lines of research to start a broader dialogue on the nature, role, and consequences of beliefs. It tackles timeless questions, as well as applications of beliefs that speak to current social issues. This multidisciplinary approach to beliefs will benefit graduate students and researchers in cognitive science, psychology, philosophy, political science, economics, and religious studies.
The Cognitive Structure of Emotions (2nd ed.) by
More than 30 years after its initial publication, this new edition of The Cognitive Structure of Emotions refines and updates Ortony, Clore, and Collins's OCC model of emotions. Starting from a three-way classification of construals of the world--events, the attribution of responsibility for events, and objects--the authors propose a systematic account of emotion differentiation. Rejecting the oft-favored features of bodily feelings, emotion-related behaviors, and facial expressions as too intensity-dependent and insufficiently diagnostic, they provide a detailed analysis of emotion differentiation in terms of the cognitive underpinnings of emotion types. Using numerous examples, they explain how different variables influence emotion intensity, and show how emotions can be formalized for computational purposes. Now with a contributed chapter describing the OCC model's influence, this book will interest a wide audience in cognitive, clinical, and social psychology, as well as in artificial intelligence and affective computing, and other cognitive science disciplines.
The Complexity of Human Thought by
This book provides an innovative interdisciplinary approach to understanding the principles of human thinking and offers techniques concerning the solution of abstract problems and predictions based on those principles. Utilizing the concepts of complexity science, the book explains the emergence and structural elements of cognitive models underlying such diverse human behaviors as abstract thought, kindness, and selfishness. Such cognitive models allow humans to react to their present environments and make accurate and useful predictions of their futures. Those who might find this book of interest are primarily academics or professionals interested in a unique and interdisciplinary approach to cognition based on complexity science. The book may also be utilized as a supplemental class text in programs on complexity science, life science, and cognition.
Empathy: The Contribution of Neuroscience to Social Analysis by
This book examines the concept of empathy in sociological and neuroscientific discourses using innovative perspectives from sociology and social neuroscience. Through a transdisciplinary approach, the author delves into the history of empathy and its social, cultural and semantic changes, and then reviews the conception of empathy in neuroscientific discourse. Distancing itself from the traditional neuroscientific literature of biological universalism, this volume offers an innovative perspective on empathy. It also opens a new avenue for neurosociology, which is presented as the discipline that can emphasize all the cultural and emotional aspects that govern empathy. Key themes addressed in the text are: empathy in all its meanings, from Hume to TenHouten; neurosociology as one possible avenue for embracing the cultural and neuroscientific aspects of empathy; and empirical research. A valuable resource for sociology students and academics in the field of empathy and neurosociology, this book is also of interest to those studying sociological thought, and social neuroscience.
The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together by
Popular neuroscience accounts often focus on specific mind-brain aspects like addiction, cognition, or memory, but The Entangled Brain tackles a much bigger question: What kind of object is the brain? Neuroscientist Luiz Pessoa describes the brain as a highly networked, interconnected system that cannot be neatly decomposed into a set of independent parts. One can't point to the brain and say, "This is where emotion happens" (or any other mental faculty). Pessoa argues that only by understanding how large-scale neural circuits combine multiple and diverse signals can we truly appreciate how the brain supports the mind. Presenting the brain as an integrated organ and drawing on neuroscience, computation, mathematics, systems theory, and evolution, The Entangled Brain explains how brain functions result from cross-cutting brain processing, not the function of segregated areas. Parts of the brain work in a coordinated fashion across large-scale distributed networks in which disparate parts of the cortex and the subcortex work simultaneously to bring about behaviors. Pessoa intuitively explains the concepts needed to formalize this idea of the brain as a complex system and how to unleash powerful understandings built with "collective computations."
The Human Mind Through the Lens of Language: Generative Explorations by
Most living forms in nature display various cognitive abilities in their behavior. However, except for humans, no other animal builds fires and wheels, navigates with maps and tells stories to other conspecifics. We can witness this unique feature of the human mind in almost everything humans do, such as painting, singing and cooking; there is an underlying sense of unity in the generative part of these systems despite wide differences in what they are about. This book introduces, defends and develops a novel philosophical approach to the study of the generative mind. Nirmalangshu Mukherji argues for a single, species-specific generative principle that accounts for the human ability to combine symbolic forms without bound in each domain that falls under the generative mind.
Language and the Brain: A Slim Guide to Neurolinguistics by
This book introduces readers to the state-of-the-art neuroscientific research that is revolutionizing our understanding of language. Interest in the brain bases of language goes back to the birth of the modern neurosciences in the late nineteenth century. Today, tools such as fMRI and EEGallow us to study brain activity non-invasively as people perform complex cognitive tasks like talking or reading. In this book, Jonathan Brennan shows how brain signals are connected with the intricate cognitive structures that underlie human language. Each chapter focuses on specific insightsincluding the neural codes for speech perception, meaning, and sentence structure. The book also explores larger themes such as how to connect abstract notions like "knowing a language" to concrete signals that are measured in a laboratory, and how to reconcile apparently conflicting pieces of datathat arise from different experiments. Written in an accessible, conversational style, and featuring a glossary of key terms, this slim guide will appeal to a wide range of readers interested in how the human brain allows us to use language.
Later: The Neurophysiology of Decision-Making by
Why is deciding to do something sometimes so slow and difficult? How do we make decisions when lacking key information? When making decisions, the higher areas of the brain deliberately suppress lower areas capable of generating much faster but ill-considered responses while they develop ones that are more sophisticated, based on what can be gained in return. In this engaging book, the authors explore the increasingly popular neural model that may explain these mechanisms: the linear approach to threshold ergodic rate (LATER). Presenting a detailed description of the neurophysiological processes involved in decision-making and how these link to the LATER model, this is the first major resource covering the applications in describing human behaviour. With over 100 illustrations and a thorough discussion of the mathematics supporting the model, this is a rigorous yet accessible resource for psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists and neurophysiologists interested in decision-making.
Memory by
A short, accessible primer on human memory, its workings, feats, and flaws, by two leading psychological researchers. Why do we vividly recall a traumatic childhood event but forget where we left our keys five minutes ago? How can a scent take us back fifty years while a colleague's name eludes us? In this compact introduction, two leading psychological researchers describe memory-how it works and why it sometimes doesn't; how it can be tricked, trained, or improved; and what changes with time. In a manner as engaging as it is informative, Fergus Craik and Larry Jacoby explain the strengths and weaknesses of memory. They trace evolving ideas about memory's function and present a down-to-earth account of modern views. Citing the latest research, they outline the processes for acquiring and retrieving memories and explore the distinction between conscious and unconscious processes. With insights into the workings of the brain, Craik and Jacoby also provide a succinct account of feats and failures of memory, emotion and false memories, and the effects of aging. Their book draws a clear picture, at once broad and concise, of current and classical views of memory, that most essential and often mysterious feature of human life.
Motivation and Desire: A New Way to Think about Why We Do Everything and Its Basis in Neuroscience by
Some of our time is spent eating and drinking and some is spent on matters regarding reproduction. Some of us seek fame or recognition while others seek satisfaction internally, with little need for recognition. Some people study for success in a profession, while others might study rocks, birds, or French literature for no apparent reason other than to know about it. Why are we motivated to engage in so many apparently unrelated activities? This book places our various activities into categories, thus providing a framework for understanding how everything that we do fits together and is based on brain mechanisms. Disturbances in motivation play important roles in autism, depression, Parkinson's disease, and addiction. Understanding the motivational aspects of these disorders can help to inform our approach to these conditions. This book may be of value for students in psychology, counseling, management, and anyone who is interested in understanding our daily behavior.
The Neurobiology of Trust by
Trust is essential for establishing and maintaining cooperative behaviors between individuals and institutions in a wide variety of social, economic, and political contexts. This book explores trust through the lens of neurobiology, focusing on empirical, methodological, and theoretical aspects. Written by a distinguished group of researchers from economics, psychology, human factors, neuroscience, and psychiatry, the chapters shed light on the neurobiological underpinnings of trust as applied in a variety of domains. Researchers and students will discover a refined understanding of trust by delving into the essential topics in this area of study outlined by leading experts.
Neuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain Science by
Is free will an illusion? Is addiction a brain disease? Should we enhance our brains beyond normal? Neuroethics blends philosophical analysis with modern brain science to address these and other critical questions through captivating cases. The result is a nuanced view of human agency as surprisingly diverse and flexible. With a lively and accessible writing style, Neuroethics is an indispensable resource for students and scholars in both the sciences and humanities.
Neuroscience in the 21st Century, 3rd ed. by
Edited and authored by a wealth of international experts in neuroscience and related disciplines, this key new resource aims to offer medical students and graduate researchers around the world a comprehensive introduction and overview of modern neuroscience. Neuroscience research is certain to prove a vital element in combating mental illness in its various incarnations, a strategic battleground in the future of medicine, as the prevalence of mental disorders is becoming better understood each year. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by mental, behavioral, neurological and substance use disorders. The World Health Organization estimated in 2002 that 154 million people globally suffer from depression and 25 million people from schizophrenia; 91 million people are affected by alcohol use disorders and 15 million by drug use disorders. A more recent WHO report shows that 50 million people suffer from epilepsy and 24 million from Alzheimer's and other dementias. Because neuroscience takes the etiology of disease--the complex interplay between biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors--as its object of inquiry, it is increasingly valuable in understanding an array of medical conditions. A recent report by the United States' Surgeon General cites several such diseases: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, early-onset depression, autism, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, anorexia nervosa, and panic disorder, among many others. Not only is this volume a boon to those wishing to understand the future of neuroscience, it also aims to encourage the initiation of neuroscience programs in developing countries, featuring as it does an appendix full of advice on how to develop such programs. With broad coverage of both basic science and clinical issues, comprising around 150 chapters from a diversity of international authors and including complementary video components, Neuroscience in the 21st Century in its third edition serves as a comprehensive resource to students and researchers alike.
The Neuroscience of Autism by
The Neuroscience of Autism provides a comprehensive accounting of autism spectrum disorders by integrating scientific findings from behavioral, cognitive and neurobiological research. The book begins by defining autism, identifying characteristics and prevalence, exploring its history, and then moving on to the cognitive and social bases of behavioral symptoms, the brain bases of behavioral and cognitive symptoms, and finally, intervention practices. It examines theoretical models such as weak central coherence, enhanced perceptual functioning, and the extreme male brain hypothesis. Finally, the book addresses the increased attention on the brain connectivity model of autism, looking at the synchronization of brain activity across different brain areas, the causal influence of a brain region on another, and white matter cable connections in the brain.
The Neuroscience of Intelligence by
This new edition provides an accessible guide to advances in neuroscience research and what they reveal about intelligence. Compelling evidence shows that genetics plays a major role as intelligence develops from childhood, and that intelligence test scores correspond strongly to specific features of the brain assessed with neuroimaging. In detailed yet understandable language, Richard J. Haier explains cutting-edge techniques based on DNA and imaging of brain connectivity and function. He dispels common misconceptions - such as the belief that IQ tests are biased or meaningless. Readers will learn about the real possibility of dramatically enhancing intelligence 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.
The Neuroscience of Sleep and Dreams by
The Neuroscience of Sleep and Dreams provides comprehensive coverage of the basic neuroscience of both sleep and dreams for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. It details new scientific discoveries, places those discoveries within evolutionary context, and links established findings with implications for sleep medicine. This second edition focuses on recent developments in the social nature of sleep and dreams. Coverage includes the neuroscience of all stages of sleep; the lifespan development of these sleep stages; the role of non-REM and REM sleep in health and mental health; comparative sleep; biological rhythms; sleep disorders; sleep memory; dream content; dream phenomenology, and dream functions. Students, scientists, and interested non-specialists will find this book accessible and informative.
The Oxford Handbook of the Mental Lexicon by
This volume brings together the latest research from leading scholars on the mental lexicon - the representation of language in the mind/brain at the level of individual words and meaningful sub-word units. In recent years, the study of words as mental objects has grown rapidly across severalfields, including linguistics, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, education, and cognitive science. This comprehensive collection spans multiple disciplines, topics, theories, and methods to highlight important advances in the study of the mental lexicon, identify areas of debate, and inspireinnovation in the field from present and future generations of scholars.The book is divided into three parts. Part I presents modern linguistic and cognitive theories of how the mind/brain represents words at the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic levels. This part also discusses broad architectural issues pertaining to the internalorganization of the lexicon, the relation between words and concepts, and the role of compositionality. Part II examines how children learn the form and meaning of words in their native language, bridging learner- and environment-driven contributions and taking into account variability across bothindividual learners and communities. Chapters in the final part explore how the mental lexicon contributes to language use during listening, speaking, and conversation, and includes perspectives from bilingualism, sign languages, and disorders of lexical access and production.
Sculptor and Destroyer: Tales of Glutamate -- The Brain's Most Important Neurotransmitter by
The fascinating story of glutamate, the neurotransmitter that controls the structure and function of the brain in health and neurological disorders. Sculptor and Destroyer tells the story of a simple, little-known molecule that became a master architect and commander of the human brain- glutamate. Upward of 90 percent of the neurons in the human brain deploy glutamate as their neurotransmitter. Other neurotransmitters can only exert their effects on brain function by subtly modifying the ongoing activity of glutamatergic neurons, but during brain development glutamate controls the growth of dendrites and the formation of synapses. In this eye-opening book, Mark Mattson explains how the neurotransmitter glutamate controls the structure and function of neuronal networks in the brain, thereby mediating the brain's capabilities, including learning and memory, creativity, and imagination. Mattson also delves deeply into the dark side of glutamate, which he calls the "destroyer" side. He shows how relatively subtle aberrancies in the activity of neurons that deploy glutamate may result in behavioral disorders ranging from autism and schizophrenia to chronic anxiety and depression. More dramatically, he describes how glutamate can excite neurons to death, a process that occurs in epilepsy and stroke and, perhaps even more insidiously, in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, ALS, and Huntington's disease. Sculptor and Destroyer concludes with a perspective on how knowledge of glutamate's roles in neuroplasticity might be applied to the optimization of brain health throughout our lives. Written in engaging, approachable prose, Sculptor and Destroyer will be of interest to anyone in the fields of neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology, as well as to anyone with a curiosity about the human brain.
The Senses: a Comprehensive Reference, 2nd ed. by
The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, Second Edition, Seven Volume Set is a comprehensive reference work covering the range of topics that constitute current knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying the different senses. This important work provides the most up-to-date, cutting-edge, comprehensive reference combining volumes on all major sensory modalities in one set. Offering 264 chapters from a distinguished team of international experts, The Senses lays out current knowledge on the anatomy, physiology, and molecular biology of sensory organs, in a collection of comprehensive chapters spanning 4 volumes. Topics covered include the perception, psychophysics, and higher order processing of sensory information, as well as disorders and new diagnostic and treatment methods. Written for a wide audience, this reference work provides students, scholars, medical doctors, as well as anyone interested in neuroscience, a comprehensive overview of the knowledge accumulated on the function of sense organs, sensory systems, and how the brain processes sensory input. As with the first edition, contributions from leading scholars from around the world will ensure The Senses offers a truly international portrait of sensory physiology. The set is the definitive reference on sensory neuroscience and provides the ultimate entry point into the review and original literature in Sensory Neuroscience enabling students and scientists to delve into the subject and deepen their knowledge. All-inclusive coverage of topics: updated edition offers readers the only current reference available covering neurobiology, physiology, anatomy, and molecular biology of sense organs and the processing of sensory information in the brain Authoritative content: world-leading contributors provide readers with a reputable, dynamic and authoritative account of the topics under discussion Comprehensive-style content: in-depth, complex coverage of topics offers students at upper undergraduate level and above full insight into topics under discussion
Speech Perception by
This volume reviews contemporary developments in the auditory cognitive neuroscience of speech perception, including both behavioral and neural contributions. It serves as an important update on the current state of research in speech perception.
Working Memory and Language in the Modular Mind by
The book explores two fundamental aspects of the human mind and their relation to one another. The first is the way that information is put to use in the mind. When we are doing a mental arithmetic problem, for example, how do we bring the relevant bits of information to mind and hold them there while carrying out the series of calculations? This is working memory, the subject of an enormous research literature in psychology, neuroscience, and a great many other disciplines. Characterizing the working memory process is now a major part of efforts to understand the human mind. How we characterize this process depends of course on how we characterize the human mind as a whole. In particular, is the mind made up of a number of distinct units, each carrying out a specialized function? There is considerable reason to say that it is, and this modular view of the mind has become prominent in a great deal of academic work, notably in cognitive neuroscience, with important implications for our understanding of how working memory works. But these implications have received surprisingly little consideration to this point. The aim of the book is to explore this relation between working memory and modularity, first in general terms and then using a specific modular view of the mind - the Modular Cognition Framework. The ideas are illustrated and further developed through an application to language and especially second language acquisition and use.