The brain's ability to detect movement within the retinal image is crucial not only for determining the trajectories of moving objects, but also for identifying and interpreting image motion resulting from eye and head movements. This book summarizes our knowledge of how information about image motion is encoded in the brain. Key Features * Valuable reference source for those involved in the rapidly expanding area of motion perception * Strong emphasis on integration of physiological, computation, and psychophysical approaches * Topics include: * Principles of local motion detection * Inputs to local motion detectors * Integration of motion signals * Higher-order interpretation of motion * Motion detection and eye movements

The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."

Motion processing is an essential piece of the complex brain machinery that allows us to reconstruct the 3D layout of objects in the environment, to break camouflage, to perform scene segmentation, to estimate the ego movement, and to control our action. Although motion perception and its neural basis have been a topic of intensive research and modeling the last two decades, recent experimental evidences have stressed the dynamical aspects of motion integration and segmentation. This book presents the most recent approaches that have changed our view of biological motion processing. These new experimental evidences call for new models emphasizing the collective dynamics of large population of neurons rather than the properties of separate individual filters. Chapters will stress how the dynamics of motion processing can be used as a general approach to understand the brain dynamics itself.

A new edition of the essential resource on using functional neuroimaging techniques to study the neural basis of cognition, revised with the student in mind; thoroughly updated, with new chapters on fMRI physics, skill learning, emotion and social cognition, and other topics. This essential resource on neuroimaging provides an accessible and user-friendly introduction to the field written by leading researchers. The book describes theoretical and methodological developments in the use of functional neuroimaging techniques to study the neural basis of cognition, from early scientific efforts to link brain and behavior to the latest applications of fMRI and PET methods. The core of the book covers fMRI and PET studies in specific domains: attention, skill learning, semantic memory, language, episodic memory, working memory, and executive functions. By introducing a technique within the description of a domain, the book offers a clear explanation of the process while highlighting its biological context. The emphasis on readability makes Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition ideal for classroom use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in cognitive neuroscience. This second edition has been completely updated to reflect new developments in the field, with existing chapters rewritten and new chapters added to each section. The section on history and methods now includes a chapter on the crucial topic of the physics of functional neuroimaging; the chapters on skill learning and executive functions are new to the domain section; and chapters on childhood development and emotion and social cognition have been added to the section on developmental, social, and clinical applications. The color insert has been increased in size, enhancing the visual display of representative findings. Contributors Todd S. Braver, Jeffrey Browndyke, Roberto Cabeza, B.J. Casey, Jody Culham, Clayton E. Curtis, Mark D'Esposito, Sander Daselaar, Lila Davachi, Ian Dobbins, Karl J. Friston, Barry Giesbrecht, Todd C. Handy, Joseph B. Hopfinger, Scott A. Huettel, Irene P. Kan, Alan Kingstone, Eleni Kotsoni, Kevin S. LaBar, George R. Mangun, Gregory McCarthy, Uta Noppeney, Robyn T. Oliver, Elizabeth A. Phelps, Russel A. Poldrack, Cathy J. Price, Marcus E. Raichle, Hannes Ruge, Gaia Scerif, Allen W. Song, Sharon L. Thompson-Schill, Daniel T. Willingham, Richard J.S. Wise

Authored by world renowned scientists, this book expertly reviews all the imaging techniques and exciting new methods for the analysis of the pain, including novel tracers, biomarker, metabolomic and gene-array profiling, together with cellular, genetic, and molecular approaches. Recent advances in human brain imaging techniques have allowed a better understand of the functional connectivity in pain pathways, as well as the functional and anatomical alterations that occur in chronic pain patients. Modern imaging techniques have permitted rapid progress in the understanding of networks in the brain related to pain processing and those related to different types of pain modulation. Neuroimaging of Pain is designed to be a valuable resource for radiologists, neuroradiologists, neurologists and neuroscientists, working in hospitals and universities from junior trainees to consultants.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.