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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.

The 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, I have 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 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.

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.

This book explores whether the mental order corresponds to the order of structures, events, and processes in one part of the neural order, namely, the cerebral cortex. For clarity and simplicity, this means the search for a spatial and temporal order in the cerebral cortex that matches the cognitive order in every respect. A change or difference in the cortical order corresponds to a change or difference in the mental order. The principal aim of this book is to map cognitive networks onto cortical networks. It has implications for cognitive neuroscience, neurophysiology, neurobiology, neuroimaging, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, cognitive psychology, and linguistics. The book will also interest students in all the disciplines of neuroscience and can be used as a text or collateral reading in courses on systems neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, cognitive science, network modeling, physiological psychology, and linguistics.

The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary terms. It is fundamental to human behaviour, thinking, and self-understanding, and a study of its structure and performance must encompass aspects of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and neurology. This book provides an account of the structural and functional organisation of the cerebral cortex from the point of view of one of the pioneers in the field. It is a revised and updated translation of the original German text, and brings together the biological, psychological, and philosophical strands of enquiry relating to this area of the brain.

Looking beyond the classical “wiring-diagram” description of the organization of cortical cells into circuits, this book focuses on dynamic aspects of cerebral cortical physiology, both at the single-neuron and network levels. Recent years have seen a remarkable expansion of knowledge about the basic cellular physiology and molecular biology of cortical nerve cells—their membrane properties, their synaptic characteristics, their functional connectivity, their development, and the mechanisms of their response to injury. This book includes contributions by many of the neurobiologists and neurologists directly responsible for these advances. The four main sections of the book are: Cortical Neurons and Synapses, The Cortical Network, The Developing Cortical Neuron, and The Vulnerable Cortical Neuron. This is a balanced multidisciplinary perspective on the normal and pathological function of the cells of the cerebral cortex, identifying the controversies and critical issues facing modern researchers in this field.

This book reviews a number of clinical neuropsychiatric conditions in which brain oscillations play an essential role. It discusses how the intrinsic properties of neurons, and the interactions between neurons – mediated by both chemical synapses and by gap junctions – can lead to oscillations in populations of cells. The discussion is based largely on data derived from in vitro systems (hippocampus, cerebral and cerebellar cortex) and from network modeling. Finally, the book considers how brain oscillations can provide insight into normal brain function as well as pathophysiology.

This book discusses just how diverse a peptide corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) is, as demonstrated by its presence in various tissues in the body, including the skin, the placenta, and various regions of the brain. As Dobzhansky (1962) noted, in light of Darwin (1874), and beyond, CRF must be placed in the larger world of regulatory biology. Evolutionary trends do not proceed in a continuous one-dimensional direction; there are starts, turns, and abrupt ends. The study of CRF is mostly about diverse functions in physiological and behavioral regulation of the internal milieu and adapting to an ecological and or social context. The book begins with a depiction of the evolutionary origins of CRF in living things, dating back hundreds of millions of years. The book pushes the conception of CRF beyond the HPA axis and common knowledge. We study the role of CRF in metamorphosis and parturition. Further, CRF is a contributor to fear and anxiety, and the book explains how excessive fear is tied to anxiety disorders and vulnerability to the breakdown of mental and physical health. Also discussed is CRF in approach/avoidance behaviors across pre- and postnatal events. CRF is intimately involved in organ development, but it is also linked to devolution of function and conditions of danger. Cravings, addictions, and how CRF is tied both to the ingestion of diverse drugs and to withdrawal are explored. CRF is considered as an epistemic object, addressing what constitutes an information molecule, in general, and CRF, in particular.

Dendrites are complex neuronal structures that receive and integrate synaptic input from other nerve cells. They therefore play a critical role in brain function. Although dendrites were discovered over a century ago, due to the development of powerful new techniques there has been a dramatic resurgence of interest in the properties and function of these beautiful structures. This is the first book to be devoted exclusively to dendrites. It contains a comprehensive survey of the current state of dendritic research across a wide range of topics, from dendritic morphology, evolution, development, and plasticity through to the electrical, biochemical, and computational properties of dendrites, and finally to the key role of dendrites in brain disease. The third edition has been thoroughly revised, with each chapter updated or completely rewritten by leading experts, plus the addition of a number of new chapters. “Dendrites” should be of interest to researchers and students in neuroscience and related fields, as well as to anyone interested in how the brain works.

Dendrites form the major receiving part of neurons. It is within these highly complex, branching structures that the real work of the nervous system takes place. The dendrites of neurons receive thousands of synaptic inputs from other neurons. However, dendrites do more than simply collect and funnel these signals to the soma and axon; they shape and integrate the inputs in complex ways. Despite being discovered over a century ago, dendrites received little research attention until the early 1950s. Over the past few years there has been a dramatic explosion of interest in the function of these beautiful structures. Recent new research has developed our understanding of the properties of dendrites, and their role in neuronal function. The first edition of this book was a landmark in the literature, stimulating and guiding further research. The new edition substantially updates the earlier volume, and includes five new chapters. It gathers new information on dendrites into a single volume, with contributions written by leading researchers in the field. The book presents a survey of the current state of our knowledge of dendrites, from their morphology and development through to their electrical, chemical, and computational properties.

The discovery of dopamine in 1957-8 was one of the seminal events in the development of modern neuroscience, and has been extremely important for the development of modern therapies of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dopamine has a fundamental role in almost all aspects of behavior — from motor control to mood regulation, cognition and addiction and reward — and dopamine research has been unique within the neurosciences in the way it has bridged basic science and clinical practice. Over the decades, research into the role of dopamine in health and disease has been at the forefront of modern neuroscience.

Science is growing at a vertiginous pace. This is no less true of neuroscience than any other discipline. It is no longer possible for anyone either to keep up with relevant literature or fully understand its implications. Ambiguity about what is known, what is uncertain and what has been disproven is especially problematic for research planning. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop strategies and tools to address this growing problem. Engineering the Next Revolution in Neuroscience describes a framework and a set of principles for organizing and simplifying the published record that can be used not only to understand the implications of published data, but also to inform research decisions. The authors use studies of learning and memory to illustrate how the framework and principles introduced were derived from implicit and explicit research practices in neuroscience. The authors then describe how these principles and framework can be used to generate maps of experimental research. This book shows how, armed with these research maps, scientists can determine more efficiently what their fields have accomplished, and where the unexplored territories still reside. The authors argue that the technology to automate the generation of these maps is at hand and that these maps will have a transformative, revolutionary impact on science.

The cerebellum is an intriguing component of the brain. In humans, it occupies only 10% of the brain volume, yet has approximately 69 billion neurons, i.e. 80% of the nerve cells in the brain! A functional understanding of the cerebellum is enabled by the fact it is made up of a repeated array of neuronal networks, or motifs, each of which may function as an adaptive filter. In short, the cerebellum can be thought of a massive array of adaptive filters that can contribute across a wide range of brain tasks and functionality. Understanding the evolutionary origins of the cerebellum supports this overview of cerebellar function. The cerebellum first arose in jawed vertebrates such as sharks, and sharks have an additional cerebellum-like structure that clearly works as an adaptive filter. The function of shark cerebellum-like structures is to discriminate ‘self’ from ‘other’ in sensory inputs. With the evolution of the true cerebellum, the adaptive filter functionality was adopted for motor control and paved the way for athleticism and movement finesse that we see in swimming, running, climbing, and flying vertebrates. Distinguishing ‘self’ from ‘other’ in our interactions with the physical world extends to the identified role of the cerebellum in model systems, but also into some aspects of cognitive function. It is this view of the cerebellar function that defines the cerebellar sense of self.

This book describes current information about the three areas mentioned in the title: neuronal migration and development, degenerative brain diseases, and neural plasticity and regeneration. The chapters in the first section of the book examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which neurons are generated from the ventricular zone in the forebrain and migrate to their destinations in the cerebral cortex. This description of cortical development also includes discussions of the Cajal-Retzius cell. Another chapter provides insight about the development of another forebrain region, the hypothalamus. The remaining chapters of the first section examine the clinical relevance of brain development in certain disease states in humans. The second section begins with details about the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia niger and their loss in Parkinson's disease. Two subsequent chapters describe changes in brain aging, including changes in the numbers of myelinated axons. Other chapters in this section describe important cellular and molecular changes found in Alzheimer's disease and human epilepsy. The last section begins with a chapter on how the brain's own stem cells provide newly generated neurons to the hippocampal dentate gyrus and how these neurons become integrated into neural circuitry. Then two chapters examine some of the neuroplastic changes that take place in motor and sensory cortices of awake behaving primates. The concluding two chapters address the issue of regeneration in the injured spinal cord and the factors that may contribute to its success.

The hippocampus is one of a group of remarkable structures embedded within the brain's medial temporal lobe. Long known to be important for memory, it has been a prime focus of neuroscience research for many years. This book aims to facilitate developments in the field in a major way by bringing together contributions by leading international scientists knowledgeable about hippocampal anatomy, physiology, and function. This book offers an up-to-date account of what the hippocampus does, how it does it, and what happens when things go wrong. At the same time, it illustrates how research focusing on this single brain structure has revealed principles of wider generality for the whole brain in relation to anatomical connectivity, synaptic plasticity, cognition and behavior, and computational algorithms. Well-organized in its presentation of both theory and experimental data, this book illustrates the astonishing progress that has been made in unraveling the workings of the brain.

This book provides a review of developments made in the understanding of cellular activation phenomena in striated muscle. Basic physical, mathematical, and physiological principles are covered. The book consistently draws correlations both with cellular and molecular biological information, and their physiological consequences and significance. It is accessible both as a survey of basic concepts and as an authoritative review of recent work in the field. The book succeeds in explaining complex biophysics in such a way that the non-expert reader obtains insights into the molecular mechanisms of muscle activation and their control mechanisms, as well as in providing the expert with the detailed mathematical and experimental evidence.

This book offers an in-depth exploration into one of the most mysterious and controversial topics in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology — namely, the search for the biological basis of the self. It is a guide to understanding how the brain creates who we are, and what happens when things go wrong.

This book describes a century of research on how nerve cells communicate with one another, beginning with the formulation of the Neuron Theory and proceeding through studies embracing a broad range of disciplines. The Neuron Theory initially depicted discrete nerve cells interacting at their points of contact (“synapses”); since nerve impulses were often identified as electrical signals traveling along neuronal processes, it seemed plausible that impulses would also pass from cell to cell electrically. Over the next hundred years, however, ingenious experiments, facilitated by powerful new techniques and interpreted with imaginative new insights, established new accounts rich in scientific detail: communication was generally achieved by releasing chemicals from one neuron to interact with specific receptors on another, thereby initiating complex chains of metabolic alterations as well as eliciting electrical responses; neurotransmitters were stored in vesicles for release onto postsynaptic neurons, and transport back into presynaptic neurons terminated the actions of some neurotransmitters whereas metabolic degradation terminated the actions of others. The formation of specific synapses during embryological development and the alterations in synaptic transmission accompanying learning also required intricate chains of cellular modifications. Disorders of synaptic transmission could result in neurological and psychiatric diseases, whereas drugs affecting particular steps in synaptic transmission could achieve dramatic therapeutic responses.

Although the major features of neural development have been known for nearly a century, it is only relatively recently that the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms have begun to be uncovered. Among the many factors accountable for the transformation of developmental neurobiology from a largely descriptive to an analytic and mechanistic discipline, two stand out as singularly important. First has been the application of molecular genetic methods to the study of such events and neural induction, the determination of neuronal phenotypes, the establishment of neuronal processes, and the formation of specific patterns of connections. The second factor has been the use of a variety of “model” organisms: each offering particular advantages in the study of one or another developmental process. The pace of new advances often overwhelms experienced workers in the field. This book updates and introduces the subject and also details recent successes in understanding the early events of neural development.