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."

This study offers interpretations of theories of memory and the body from Descartes to Coleridge.

This book focuses on associative memory cells and their working principles, which can be applied to associative memories and memory-relevant cognitions. Providing comprehensive diagrams, it presents the author's personal perspectives on pathology and therapeutic strategies for memory deficits in patients suffering from neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders. Associative learning is a common approach to acquire multiple associated signals, including knowledge, experiences and skills from natural environments or social interaction. The identification of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying associative memory is important in furthering our understanding of the principles of memory formation and memory-relevant behaviors as well as in developing therapeutic strategies that enhance memory capacity in healthy individuals and improve memory deficit in patients suffering from neurological disease and psychiatric disorders. Although a series of hypotheses about neural substrates for associative memory has been proposed, numerous questions still need to be addressed, especially the basic units and their working principle in engrams and circuits specific for various memory patterns. This book summarizes the developments concerning associative memory cells reported in current and past literature, providing a valuable overview of the field for neuroscientists, psychologists and students.

Provides a thematically integrated analysis and discussion of neuroethical questions about memory capacity, content, and interventions.

Providing the first glimpse of how associative memories are actually established in our brains, this book describes a research strategy for unravelling the mystery of memory and learning. The results of this experimental quest are described at several levels of biological complexity including animal behavior, neural systems, cellular and membrane physiology, and molecular regulation. The amply illustrated text is carefully structured to distinguish between observations and hypotheses, between attractive possibilities and empirical demonstrations. Dr Alkon progresses step-by-step through a series of experimental tests of intuitive conjectures on the nature of learning and memory. The book guides the reader through a scientific detective story that sheds new light on how we learn and how we remember.

A comprehensive, multidisciplinary review, Neural Plasticity and Memory: From Genes to Brain Imaging provides an in-depth, up-to-date analysis of the study of the neurobiology of memory. Leading specialists share their scientific experience in the field, covering a wide range of topics where molecular, genetic, behavioral, and brain imaging techniq

The development of the young brain after birth and the emergence of cognitive capacities, mind, and individuality rest on the maturation of a dense net of synaptic connections between neurons. Memory Makes the Brain describes the dramatic, competitive elimination of surplus synapses that occur in the young, maturing brain -- in a process called synaptic pruning that was discovered by pediatric neurologist Peter Huttenlocher in the 1970's at the University of Chicago. Explaining similarities between developmental pruning and learning processes in the adult brain, neurobiologist Christian Hansel offers a unique perspective on brain adaptation and plasticity throughout lifetime, at times weaving in personal accounts and memories. The cellular plasticity machinery that enables learning is known to be affected in brain developmental disorders such as autism. Memory Makes the Brain explains how both maturation and adult synaptic plasticity are deregulated in autism, and how we begin to trace back autism-typical behavioral abnormalities to such synaptopathies.