Information professionals are under constant stress. Libraries are ushering in sweeping changes that involve the closing of branches and reference desks, wholesale dumping of print, disappearing space, and employment of non-professional staff to fill what have traditionally been the roles of librarians. Increasing workloads, constant interruptions, ceaseless change, continual downsizing, budget cuts, repetitive work, and the pressures of public services have caused burnout in many informat...

The human face is unique among social stimuli in conveying such a variety of different characteristics. A person's identity, sex, race, age, emotional state, focus of attention, facial speech patterns, and attractiveness are all detected and interpreted with relative ease from the face. Humans also display a surprising degree of consistency in the extent to which personality traits, such as trustworthiness and likeability, are attributed to faces. In the past thirty years, face perception ...

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...

We grow up thinking there are five senses, but we forget about the ten neglected senses of the body that both enable and limit our experience. Embodied explores the psychology of physical sensation in ten chapters: balance, movement, pressure (acting in gravity), breathing, fatigue, pain, itch, temperature, appetite, and expulsion (the senses of physical matter leaving the body). For each sense, two people are interviewed who live with extreme experiences of the sense being invest...

This volume brings together noted scientists who study presbycusis from the perspective of complementary disciplines, for a review of the current state of knowledge on the aging auditory system. Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is one of the top three most common chronic health conditions affecting individuals aged 65 years and older. The high prevalence of age-related hearing loss compels audiologists, otolaryngologists, and auditory neuroscientists alike to understand the neural, genetic ...

This fully revised second edition provides the only unified synthesis of available information concerning the mechanisms of higher-order memory formation. It spans the range from learning theory, to human and animal behavioral learning models, to cellular physiology and biochemistry. It is unique in its incorporation of chapters on memory disorders, tying in these clinically important syndromes with the basic science of synaptic plasticity and memory mechanisms. It also covers cutting-edge...

Present day neuroscience places the brain at the centre of study. But what if researchers viewed the brain not as the foundation of life, rather as a mediating organ? Ecology of the Brain addresses this very question. It considers the human body as a collective, a living being which uses the brain to mediate interactions. Those interactions may be both within the human body and between the human body and its environment. Within this framework, the mind is seen not as a product of the brain...

The past two decades have seen unparalleled developments in our knowledge of the brain and mind. However, these advances have forced us to confront head-on some significant ethical issues regarding our application of this information in the real world- whether using brain images to establish guilt within a court of law, or developing drugs to enhance cognition. Historically, any consideration of the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies in science and medicine ha...

The term “design” today encompasses attributes of artifacts that go beyond their intended functions, imbuing them with new meanings. Those meanings are deeply related to the emotions perceived by the users. This book investigates the findings deriving from the neurosciences that are relevant to design. Drawing upon up-to-date neuroscientific knowledge, the authors define what an emotion is, examine the relationship between perceptions and emotions and discuss the role of metaphoric communi...

The scalp and cortex lie like pages of an open book on which the cortex enciphers vast quantities of information and knowledge. They are recorded and analyzed as temporal and spatial patterns in the electroencephalogram and electrocorticogram. This book describes basic tools and concepts needed to measure and decipher the patterns extracted from the EEG and ECoG.This book emphasizes the need for single trial analysis using new methods and paradigms, as well as large, high-density s...

In recent years, understanding of microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis, the molecular mechanisms by which miRNAs regulate gene expression, and the functional roles of miRNAs has expanded. Mapping of Nervous System Diseases via MicroRNAs provides an up-to-date review on the function of miRNA in neurological diseases as well as advancements in technology for