Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain

Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain PDF Author: Theodore W. Berger
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262025775
Category : Anatomy
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book

Book Description
The latest advances in research on intracranial implantation of hardware models of neural circuitry.

Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain

Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain PDF Author: Theodore W. Berger
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262025775
Category : Anatomy
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book

Book Description
The latest advances in research on intracranial implantation of hardware models of neural circuitry.

The Human Brain Book

The Human Brain Book PDF Author: Rita Carter
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 075666215X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book

Book Description
The Human Brain Book is a complete guide to the one organ in the body that makes each of us what we are - unique individuals. It combines the latest findings from the field of neuroscience with expert text and state-of-the-art illustrations and imaging techniques to provide an incomparable insight into every facet of the brain. Layer by layer, it reveals the fascinating details of this remarkable structure, covering all the key anatomy and delving into the inner workings of the mind, unlocking its many mysteries, and helping you to understand what's going on in those millions of little gray and white cells. Tricky concepts are illustrated and explained with clarity and precision, as The Human Brain Book looks at how the brain sends messages to the rest of the body, how we think and feel, how we perform unconscious actions (for example, breathing), explores the nature of genius, asks why we behave the way we do, explains how we see and hear things, and how and why we dream. Physical and psychological disorders affecting the brain and nervous system are clearly illustrated and summarized in easy-to-understand terms.

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

From Neurons to Neighborhoods PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309069882
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 610

Get Book

Book Description
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.

How People Learn

How People Learn PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309131979
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book

Book Description
First released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This edition includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning. Like the original edition, this book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methods--to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb. How People Learn examines these findings and their implications for what we teach, how we teach it, and how we assess what our children learn. The book uses exemplary teaching to illustrate how approaches based on what we now know result in in-depth learning. This new knowledge calls into question concepts and practices firmly entrenched in our current education system. Topics include: How learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain. How existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn. What the thought processes of experts tell us about how to teach. The amazing learning potential of infants. The relationship of classroom learning and everyday settings of community and workplace. Learning needs and opportunities for teachers. A realistic look at the role of technology in education.

Zen and the Brain

Zen and the Brain PDF Author: James H. Austin
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262260350
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 876

Get Book

Book Description
A neuroscientist and Zen practitioner interweaves the latest research on the brain with his personal narrative of Zen. Aldous Huxley called humankind's basic trend toward spiritual growth the "perennial philosophy." In the view of James Austin, the trend implies a "perennial psychophysiology"—because awakening, or enlightenment, occurs only when the human brain undergoes substantial changes. What are the peak experiences of enlightenment? How could these states profoundly enhance, and yet simplify, the workings of the brain? Zen and the Brain presents the latest evidence. In this book Zen Buddhism becomes the opening wedge for an extraordinarily wide-ranging exploration of consciousness. In order to understand which brain mechanisms produce Zen states, one needs some understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain. Austin, both a neurologist and a Zen practitioner, interweaves the most recent brain research with the personal narrative of his Zen experiences. The science is both inclusive and rigorous; the Zen sections are clear and evocative. Along the way, Austin examines such topics as similar states in other disciplines and religions, sleep and dreams, mental illness, consciousness-altering drugs, and the social consequences of the advanced stage of ongoing enlightenment.

From Brain to Mind

From Brain to Mind PDF Author: James E. Zull
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000977471
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book

Book Description
Finalist for Foreword Magazine's 2011 Book of the YearWith his knack for making science intelligible for the layman, and his ability to illuminate scientific concepts through analogy and reference to personal experience, James Zull offers the reader an engrossing and coherent introduction to what neuroscience can tell us about cognitive development through experience, and its implications for education.Stating that educational change is underway and that the time is ripe to recognize that “the primary objective of education is to understand human learning” and that “all other objectives depend on achieving this understanding”, James Zull challenges the reader to focus on this purpose, first for her or himself, and then for those for whose learning they are responsible. The book is addressed to all learners and educators – to the reader as self-educator embarked on the journey of lifelong learning, to the reader as parent, and to readers who are educators in schools or university settings, as well as mentors and trainers in the workplace.In this work, James Zull presents cognitive development as a journey taken by the brain, from an organ of organized cells, blood vessels, and chemicals at birth, through its shaping by experience and environment into potentially to the most powerful and exquisite force in the universe, the human mind.Zull begins his journey with sensory-motor learning, and how that leads to discovery, and discovery to emotion. He then describes how deeper learning develops, how symbolic systems such as language and numbers emerge as tools for thought, how memory builds a knowledge base, and how memory is then used to create ideas and solve problems. Along the way he prompts us to think of new ways to shape educational experiences from early in life through adulthood, informed by the insight that metacognition lies at the root of all learning.At a time when we can expect to change jobs and careers frequently during our lifetime, when technology is changing society at break-neck speed, and we have instant access to almost infinite information and opinion, he argues that self-knowledge, awareness of how and why we think as we do, and the ability to adapt and learn, are critical to our survival as individuals; and that the transformation of education, in the light of all this and what neuroscience can tell us, is a key element in future development of healthy and productive societies.

The Brain Book

The Brain Book PDF Author: Rita Carter
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Ltd
ISBN: 0241444098
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book

Book Description
This science ebook of award-wiining print edition uses the latest findings from neuroscience research and brain-imaging technology to take you on a journey into the human brain. CGI artworks and brain MRI scans reveal the brain's anatomy in unprecedented detail. Step-by-step sequences unravel and simplify the complex processes of brain function, such as how nerves transmit signals, how memories are laid down and recalled, and how we register emotions. The book answers fundamental and compelling questions about the brain: what does it means to be conscious, what happens when we're asleep,and are the brains of men and women different? Written by award-winning author Rita Carter, this is an accessible and authoritative reference book to a fascinating part of the human body. Thanks to improvements in scanning technology, our understanding of the brain is changing fast. Now in its third edition, the Brain Book provides an up-to-date guide to one of science's most exciting frontiers. With its coverage of over 50 brain-related diseases and disorders - from strokes to brain tumours and schizophrenia - it is also an essential manual for students and healthcare professionals.

Predictions in the Brain

Predictions in the Brain PDF Author: Moshe Bar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199840953
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book

Book Description
When one is immersed in the fascinating world of neuroscience findings, the brain might start to seem like a collection of "modules," each specializes in a specific mental feat. But just like in other domains of Nature, it is possible that much of the brain and mind's operation can be explained with a small set of universal principles. Given exciting recent developments in theory, empirical findings and computational studies, it seems that the generation of predictions might be one strong candidate for such a universal principle. This is the focus of Predictions in the brain. From the predictions required when a rat navigates a maze to food-caching in scrub-jays; from predictions essential in decision-making to social interactions; from predictions in the retina to the prefrontal cortex; and from predictions in early development to foresight in non-humans. The perspectives represented in this collection span a spectrum from the cellular underpinnings to the computational principles underlying future-related mental processes, and from systems neuroscience to cognition and emotion. In spite of this diversity, they share some core elements. Memory, for instance, is critical in any framework that explains predictions. In asking "what is next?" our brains have to refer to memory and experience on the way to simulating our mental future. But as much as this collection offers answers to important questions, it raises and emphasizes outstanding ones. How are experiences coded optimally to afford using them for predictions? How do we construct a new simulation from separate memories? How specific in detail are future-oriented thoughts, and when do they rely on imagery, concepts or language? Therefore, in addition to presenting the state-of-the-art of research and ideas about predictions as a universal principle in mind and brain, it is hoped that this collection will stimulate important new research into the foundations of our mental lives.

Brain Repair

Brain Repair PDF Author: Donald G. Stein
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195119183
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book

Book Description
Over a half million people each year suffer brain-damaging injuries and diseases--but the outlook for their eventual recovery is far more hopeful than it was just a short while ago. In Brain Repair, three internationally renowned neuroscientists team up to offer an intriguing and up-to-the-minute introduction to the explosive advances being made in the research, technology, and treatment of brain damage. The key to neuroscience's most exciting discoveries to date is a theory that is rapidly gaining adherents in the scientific community--the theory of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity stresses that cells throughout the brain can not only regenerate, but can adapt their function to assume critical roles once performed by damaged tissue. In clear, accessible language, the authors show us that the brain manufactures a host of complex chemicals that actually foster growth in damaged brain cells. We visit the laboratories where researchers are untangling the mystery of Parkinson's disease and trying to understand what goes wrong in stroke victims, and why some, thought permanently impaired, show remarkable improvements. In addition, they discuss how even today misguided ideas can adversely affect how physicians treat patients. And, along the way, they detail the fascinating history of how brain structure and functioning has been understood and studied, from prehistoric times to the present. A best-selling volume in France and Mexico, Brain Repair provides a vividly written, wide-ranging look at the leading edge of one of science's most exciting frontiers.

Brain and Culture

Brain and Culture PDF Author: Bruce E. Wexler
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262265141
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Get Book

Book Description
Research shows that between birth and early adulthood the brain requires sensory stimulation to develop physically. The nature of the stimulation shapes the connections among neurons that create the neuronal networks necessary for thought and behavior. By changing the cultural environment, each generation shapes the brains of the next. By early adulthood, the neuroplasticity of the brain is greatly reduced, and this leads to a fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the environment: during the first part of life, the brain and mind shape themselves to the major recurring features of their environment; by early adulthood, the individual attempts to make the environment conform to the established internal structures of the brain and mind. In Brain and Culture, Bruce Wexler explores the social implications of the close and changing neurobiological relationship between the individual and the environment, with particular attention to the difficulties individuals face in adulthood when the environment changes beyond their ability to maintain the fit between existing internal structure and external reality. These difficulties are evident in bereavement, the meeting of different cultures, the experience of immigrants (in which children of immigrant families are more successful than their parents at the necessary internal transformations), and the phenomenon of interethnic violence. Integrating recent neurobiological research with major experimental findings in cognitive and developmental psychology—with illuminating references to psychoanalysis, literature, anthropology, history, and politics—Wexler presents a wealth of detail to support his arguments. The groundbreaking connections he makes allow for reconceptualization of the effect of cultural change on the brain and provide a new biological base from which to consider such social issues as "culture wars" and ethnic violence.