Neuroscience For Dummies

432 Pages·2016·6.37 MB·English

by  Frank Amthor

Neuroscience For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016933973
ISBN 978-1-119-22489-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-22491-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-
1-119-22490-7 (ebk)
Neuroscience For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Introducing the Nervous System
Chapter 1: A Quick Trip through the Nervous
System
Understanding the Evolution of the Nervous System
Looking at How the Nervous System Works
Looking at the Basic Functions of the Nervous System
When Things Go Wrong: Neurological and Mental Illness
Revolutionizing the Future: Advancements in Various Fields
Chapter 2: All about the Brain and Spinal Cord
Looking Inside the Skull: The Brain and Its Parts
The Spinal Cord: The Intermediary between Nervous Systems
Fighting or Fleeing: The Autonomic Nervous System
How We Know What We Know about Neural Activity
Chapter 3: Understanding How Neurons Work
Neuron Basics: Not Just Another Cell in the Body
How Shocking! Neurons as Electrical Signaling Devices
Moving Around with Motor Neurons
Non-neuronal Cells: Glial Cells
Recording Techniques
Part 2: Translating the Internal and External World
through Your Senses
Chapter 4: Feeling Your Way: The Skin Senses
How Do You Feel? The Lowdown on the Skin and Its Sensory
Neurons
Skin Receptors, Local Spinal Circuits, and Projections to the
Brain
Understanding the Complex Aspects of Pain
Chapter 5: Looking at Vision
The Eyes Have It: A Quick Glance at Your Eyes
From the Eyes to the Vision Centers of the Brain
Impaired Vision and Visual Illusions
Chapter 6: Sounding Off: The Auditory System
The Ear: Capturing and Decoding Sound Waves
Making Sense of Sounds: Central Auditory Projections
Locating Sound
I Can’t Hear You: Deafness and Tinnitus
Chapter 7: Odors and Taste
What’s That Smell?
Having Good Taste
The Role of Learning and Memory in Taste and Smell
Lacking Taste and Smelling Badly
Part 3: Moving Right Along: Motor Systems
Chapter 8: Movement Basics
Identifying Types of Movement
Controlling Movement: Central Planning and Hierarchical
Execution
Pulling the Load: Muscle Cells and Their Action Potentials
Muscle and Muscle Motor Neuron Disorders
Chapter 9: Coordinating Things More: The Spinal
Cord and Pathways
The Withdrawal Reflex: An Open-Loop Response
Hold Your Position! Closed-Loop Reflexes
The Modulating Reflexes: Balance and Locomotion
Correcting Errors without Feedback: The Cerebellum
Chapter 10: Planning and Executing Actions
Making the Move from Reflexes to Conscious or Goal-
Generated Action
Where Are the Free Will Neurons?
Discovering New (and Strange) Neurons
When the Wheels Come Off: Motor Disorders
Chapter 11: Unconscious Actions with Big
Implications
Working behind the Scenes: The Autonomic Nervous System
Sweet Dreams: Sleep and Circadian Rhythms
Part 4: Intelligence: The Thinking Brain and
Consciousness
Chapter 12: Understanding Intelligence,
Consciousness, and Emotions
Defining Intelligence
Intelligence about Emotions
Understanding Consciousness
Chapter 13: How the Brain Processes Thoughts
The Brain: Taking Command at Multiple Levels
All about the Neocortex
Controlling the Content of Thought: Sensory Pathways and
Hierarchies
Dividing and Conquering: Language, Vision, and the Brain
Hemispheres
Where Consciousness Resides
Chapter 14: The Executive Brain
Getting the Brain You Have Today: The Neocortex versus Your
Reptilian Brain
Working Memory, Problem-Solving, and the Lateral Prefrontal
Cortex
Making Up and Changing Your Mind: The Orbitofrontal Cortex
Are We There Yet? The Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Chapter 15: Learning and Memory
Learning and Memory: One More Way to Adapt to the
Environment
Sending More or Fewer Signals: Adaptation versus Facilitation
Exploring What Happens during Learning: Changing Synapses
The Role of the Hippocampus in Learning and Memory
Losing Your Memory: Forgetting, Amnesia, and Other Disorders
Getting Brainier: Improving your Learning
Chapter 16: Developing and Modifying Brain
Circuits: Plasticity
Developing from Conception
Learning from Experience: Plasticity and the Development of
Cortical Maps
Taking the Wrong Path: Nervous System Disorders of
Development
The Aging Brain
Chapter 17: Neural Dysfunctions, Mental Illness,
and Drugs That Affect the Brain
Looking at the Causes and Types of Mental Illness
The Promise of Pharmaceuticals
Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Crucial Brain Structures
The Neocortex
The Thalamus, Gateway to the Neocortex
The Pulvinar
The Cerebellum
The Hippocampus
Wernicke’s and Broca’s Areas
The Fusiform Face Area
The Amygdala
The Lateral Prefrontal Cortex
The Substantia Nigra (Basal Ganglia)
The Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Chapter 19: Ten Tricks of Neurons That Make
Them Do What They Do
Overcoming Neurons’ Size Limit
Getting the Biggest Bang for the Buck with Dendritic Spines
Ligand-Gated Receptors: Enabling Neurons to Communicate
Chemically
Getting Specialized for the Senses
Computing with Ion Channel Currents
Keeping the Signal Strong across Long Distances
The Axon: Sending Signals from Head to Toe
Speeding Things Up with Myelination
Neural Homeostasis
Changing Synaptic Weights to Adapt and Learn
Chapter 20: Ten Amazing Facts about the Brain
It Has 100 Billion Cells and a Quadrillion Synapses
Consciousness Doesn’t Reside in Any Specific Area of the Brain
It Has No Pain Receptors
Cutting the Largest Fiber Tract in the Brain Produces Few Side
Effects
Einstein’s Brain Was Smaller than Average
Adults Lose Several Hundred Thousand Neurons a Day with No
Noticeable Effect
Pound for Pound, It Takes a Lot of Energy
It’s a Myth That We Use Only 10 Percent of Our Brains
Brain Injuries Have Resulted in Savant Skills
Adult Brains Can Grow New Neurons
Chapter 21: Ten Promising Treatments for the
Future
Correcting Developmental Disorders through Gene Therapy
Augmenting the Brain with Genetic Manipulation
Correcting Brain Injury with Stem Cells
Using Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Neurological Disorders
Stimulating the Brain Externally through TMS and tDCS
Using Neuroprostheses for Sensory Loss
Addressing Paralysis with Neuroprostheses