Enriched and Impoverished Environments: Effects on Brain and Behaviour is the most recent review of the active area of neuronal plasticity. The question of how experience is recorded is fundamental to psychology; speculations and investigations concerning the role of the brain in this process have entered a particularly exciting phase as of the late 1980's. Manipulations of environmental complexity is one of the earliest methods utilized in the study of neural plasticity....

A fascinating account by one of the world's leading neurologists of the profound influence of William Burroughs on his medical career. Lees relates how Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch and troubled drug addict, inspired him to discover a ground-breaking treatment for Parkinson's Disease. Lees journeys to the Amazonian rainforest in search of cures, and through self-experimentation seeks to find the answers his patients crave. He enters a powerful plea for the return of imagination...

This book, written by one of the leaders in the field of the neurosciences, will give an explanation of the symptoms and eventual untimely suicide of one of literatures greatest authors; Virginia Woolf. The sources used are letters and statements from Woolf herself, the literature she wrote and comments, letters and any other documentation that referred to her mental state and her medical status. The author will use current insight into depression, the mental consequences of child abuse an...

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the human central nervous system (CNS) in the context of its many developmental disorders due to genetic, environmental, and hypoxic/ischemic causes. The introductory chapters give an overview of the development of the human brain and the spinal cord, the mechanisms of development as obtained in experimental studies of various invertebrates and vertebrates, and the causes of congenital malformations. In the main part, the de...

This volume is the most recent installment of the Progress in Motor Control series. It contains contributions based on presentations by invited speakers at the Progress in Motor Control IX meeting held in at McGill University, Montreal, in July, 2013. Progress in Motor Control is the official scientific meeting of the International Society of Motor Control (ISMC). The Progress in Motor Control IXI meeting, and consequently this volume, provide a broad perspective on the latest research on ...

Every three years, the International Society for Arterial Chemoreception (ISAC) arranges a Meeting to bring together all of the major International research groups investigating the general topic of oxygen sensing in health and disease, with a prime focus upon systemic level hypoxia and carotid body function. This volume summarises the proceedings of the XIXth meeting of the Society, held in Leeds, UK during the summer of 2014. As such this volume represents a unique collection of state of...

Within the field of neuroscience, the past few decades have witnessed an exponential growth of research into the brain mechanisms underlying both normal and pathological states of consciousness in humans. The development of sophisticated imaging techniques to visualize and map brain activity in vivo has opened new avenues in our understanding of the pathological processes involved in common neuropsychiatric disorders affecting consciousness, such as epilepsy, coma, vegetative states, disso...

Presents a comprehensive review of nonhuman primate audition and vocal communication. These are obviously intimately related topics, but are often addressed separately. The hearing abilities of primates have been tested experimentally in a large number of species across the primate order, and these studies have revealed both consistent patterns as well as interesting variation within and between taxonomic groups. Recent studies have shed light on how variation in anatomical structures alon...

Optic flow provides all the information necessary to guide a walking human or a mobile robot to its target. Over the past 50 years, a body of research on optic flow spanning the disciplines of neurophysiology, psychophysics, experimental psychology, brain imaging and computational modelling has accumulated. Today, when we survey the field, we find independent lines of research have now converged and many arguments have been resolved; simultaneously the underpinning assumptions of flow theo...

The ability to use tools skillfully is generally regarded as one of the major achievements in the evolutionary development of the human nervous system. It is possible for controlled movements of muscles to be executed only if sensory information is integrated into complex neural circuits at various hierarchical levels. The chapters in this volume deal with basic and clinical aspects of integrative processing of sensory and motor activities. New findings emphasize the important influence of...

Although more than 10 new antiepileptic drugs have been developed in the past decade, epilepsy remains resistant to drug therapy in about one third of patients, many of whom struggle with the disease their entire lives. Managing these patients is a challenge and requires a structured multidisciplinary approach. The book includes chapters on all issues related to pharmacoresistance in epilepsy and describes recent developments in the pathogenesis and treatment of this disorder. It addresses...

Recent years have seen spectacular advances in the filed of epigenetics. These have attracted the interest of researchers in many fields and evidence connecting epigentic regulation to brain functions has been accumulationg. Neurons daily convert a variety of external stimuli into rapid or long-lasting changes in gene expression. A variety of studies have centered on the molcular mechanisms implicated in epigentic control and how these may operte in concert. It will be critical to unravel ...