Rhythms of the Brain

Author: G. Buzsáki
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199828237
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
Studies of mechanisms in the brain that allow complicated things to happen in a coordinated fashion have produced some of the most spectacular discoveries in neuroscience. This book provides eloquent support for the idea that spontaneous neuron activity, far from being mere noise, is actually the source of our cognitive abilities. It takes a fresh look at the coevolution of structure and function in the mammalian brain, illustrating how self-emerged oscillatory timing is the brain's fundamental organizer of neuronal information. The small-world-like connectivity of the cerebral cortex allows for global computation on multiple spatial and temporal scales. The perpetual interactions among the multiple network oscillators keep cortical systems in a highly sensitive "metastable" state and provide energy-efficient synchronizing mechanisms via weak links. In a sequence of "cycles," György Buzsáki guides the reader from the physics of oscillations through neuronal assembly organization to complex cognitive processing and memory storage. His clear, fluid writing-accessible to any reader with some scientific knowledge-is supplemented by extensive footnotes and references that make it just as gratifying and instructive a read for the specialist. The coherent view of a single author who has been at the forefront of research in this exciting field, this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in our rapidly evolving understanding of the brain.

The Brain from Inside Out

Author: György Buzsáki MD, PhD
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190905395
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
Is there a right way to study how the brain works? Following the empiricist's tradition, the most common approach involves the study of neural reactions to stimuli presented by an experimenter. This 'outside-in' method fueled a generation of brain research and now must confront hidden assumptions about causation and concepts that may not hold neatly for systems that act and react. György Buzsáki's The Brain from Inside Out examines why the outside-in framework for understanding brain function has become stagnant and points to new directions for understanding neural function. Building upon the success of 2011's Rhythms of the Brain, Professor Buzsáki presents the brain as a foretelling device that interacts with its environment through action and the examination of action's consequence. Consider that our brains are initially filled with nonsense patterns, all of which are gibberish until grounded by action-based interactions. By matching these nonsense "words" to the outcomes of action, they acquire meaning. Once its circuits are "calibrated" by action and experience, the brain can disengage from its sensors and actuators, and examine "what happens if" scenarios by peeking into its own computation, a process that we refer to as cognition. The Brain from Inside Out explains why our brain is not an information-absorbing coding device, as it is often portrayed, but a venture-seeking explorer constantly controlling the body to test hypotheses. Our brain does not process information: it creates it.

Encyclopedia of Neuroscience

Author: Marc D. Binder
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783540237358
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 4398

Book Description
This 5000-page masterwork is literally the last word on the topic and will be an essential resource for many. Unique in its breadth and detail, this encyclopedia offers a comprehensive and highly readable guide to a complex and fast-expanding field. The five-volume reference work gathers more than 10,000 entries, including in-depth essays by internationally known experts, and short keynotes explaining essential terms and phrases. In addition, expert editors contribute detailed introductory chapters to each of 43 topic fields ranging from the fundamentals of neuroscience to fascinating developments in the new, inter-disciplinary fields of Computational Neuroscience and Neurophilosophy. Some 1,000 multi-color illustrations enhance and expand the writings.

Music, Science, and the Rhythmic Brain

Author: Jonathan Berger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136647074
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Book Description
This book studies the effects of repetitive musical rhythm on the brain and nervous system, and in doing so integrates diverse fields including ethnomusicology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, religious studies, music therapy, and human health. It presents aspects of musical rhythm and biological rhythms, and in particular rhythmic entrainment, in a way that considers cultural context alongside theoretical research and discussions of potential clinical and therapeutic implications. Considering the effects of drumming and other rhythmic music on mental and bodily functioning, the volume hypothesizes that rhythmic music can have a dramatic impact on mental states, sometimes catalyzing profound changes in arousal, mood, and emotional states via the stimulation of changes in physiological functions like the electrical activity in the brain. The experiments presented here make use of electroencephalography (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and subjective measures to gain insight into how these mental states are evoked, what their relationship is to the music and context of the experience, and demonstrate that they are happening in a consistent and reproducible fashion, suggesting clinical applications. This comprehensive volume will appeal to scholars in cognition, ethnomusicology, and music perception who are interested in the therapeutic potential of music.

When Brains Dream: Understanding the Science and Mystery of Our Dreaming Minds

Author: Antonio Zadra
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324002840
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
"A truly comprehensive, scientifically rigorous and utterly fascinating account of when, how, and why we dream. Put simply, When Brains Dream is the essential guide to dreaming." —Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep Questions on the origins and meaning of dreams are as old as humankind, and as confounding and exciting today as when nineteenth-century scientists first attempted to unravel them. Why do we dream? Do dreams hold psychological meaning or are they merely the reflection of random brain activity? What purpose do dreams serve? When Brains Dream addresses these core questions about dreams while illuminating the most up-to-date science in the field. Written by two world-renowned sleep and dream researchers, it debunks common myths that we only dream in REM sleep, for example—while acknowledging the mysteries that persist around both the science and experience of dreaming. Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold bring together state-of-the-art neuroscientific ideas and findings to propose a new and innovative model of dream function called NEXTUP—Network Exploration to Understand Possibilities. By detailing this model’s workings, they help readers understand key features of several types of dreams, from prophetic dreams to nightmares and lucid dreams. When Brains Dream reveals recent discoveries about the sleeping brain and the many ways in which dreams are psychologically, and neurologically, meaningful experiences; explores a host of dream-related disorders; and explains how dreams can facilitate creativity and be a source of personal insight. Making an eloquent and engaging case for why the human brain needs to dream, When Brains Dream offers compelling answers to age-old questions about the mysteries of sleep.

The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm

Author: Russell Hartenberger
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108492924
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 371

Book Description
An exploration of rhythm and the richness of musical time from the perspective of performers, composers, analysts, and listeners.

Rhythm, Music, and the Brain

Author: Michael Thaut
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136762876
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
With the advent of modern cognitive neuroscience and new tools of studying the human brain "live," music as a highly complex, temporally ordered and rule-based sensory language quickly became a fascinating topic of study. The question of "how" music moves us, stimulates our thoughts, feelings, and kinesthetic sense, and how it can reach the human experience in profound ways is now measured with the advent of modern cognitive neuroscience. The goal of Rhythm, Music and the Brain is an attempt to bring the knowledge of the arts and the sciences and review our current state of study about the brain and music, specifically rhythm. The author provides a thorough examination of the current state of research, including the biomedical applications of neurological music therapy in sensorimotor speech and cognitive rehabilitation. This book will be of interest for the lay and professional reader in the sciences and arts as well as the professionals in the fields of neuroscientific research, medicine, and rehabilitation.

The Ravenous Brain

Author: Daniel Bor
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465032966
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Book Description
Consciousness is our gateway to experience: it enables us to recognize Van Gogh's starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven's Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine: philosophers have for centuries declared this mental entity so mysterious as to be impenetrable to science.In The Ravenous Brain, neuroscientist Daniel Bor departs sharply from this historical view, and builds on the latest research to propose a new model for how consciousness works. Bor argues that this brain-based faculty evolved as an accelerated knowledge gathering tool. Consciousness is effectively an idea factory -- that choice mental space dedicated to innovation, a key component of which is the discovery of deep structures within the contents of our awareness.This model explains our brains"; ravenous appetite for information -- and in particular, its constant search for patterns. Why, for instance, after all our physical needs have been met, do we recreationally solve crossword or Sudoku puzzles? Such behavior may appear biologically wasteful, but, according to Bor, this search for structure can yield immense evolutionary benefits -- it led our ancestors to discover fire and farming, pushed modern society to forge ahead in science and technology, and guides each one of us to understand and control the world around us. But the sheer innovative power of human consciousness carries with it the heavy cost of mental fragility.Bor discusses the medical implications of his theory of consciousness, and what it means for the origins and treatment of psychiatric ailments, including attention-deficit disorder, schizophrenia, manic depression, and autism. All mental illnesses, he argues, can be reformulated as disorders of consciousness -- a perspective that opens up new avenues of treatment for alleviating mental suffering.A controversial view of consciousness, The Ravenous Brain links cognition to creativity in an ingenious solution to one of science's biggest mysteries.

The Brain's Alpha Rhythms and the Mind

Author: John Crosley Shaw
Publisher: Elsevier Science Health Science Division
ISBN: 9780444513977
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
To the author's knowledge this book is the first to review the whole field of the Alpha rhythm component of the electroencephalogram (EEG). It reviews the classical studies from the 1930s through the 1980s when EEG research became dominated by event-related potential studies. Renewed interest in the alpha rhythm developed in the 1990s when neuronal oscillations became a major focus of interest in the neurophysiology of brain function. Many of the later studies of alpha activity that resulted from this development are fully documented in the book. Three main themes are presented throughout the book. First, the recognition of the ubiquitous nature of the alpha rhythm such that there are multiple sites of alpha rhythm generation in the brain, many only being detected by using appropriate signal analysis techniques. This has resulted in the recognition of 'alpha activities', in place of the classical unitary alpha rhythm. Second, the attempts to use a hemisphere function model to relate alpha activity response to mental activity and inter-individual variation are critically reviewed and shown to be equivocal. In particular the significance of independent alpha components within the alpha frequency band is described. Third, both classical and new ideas about the generation of the EEG, particularly alpha activity, are reviewed and some new concepts about its functional significance are presented. There is currently extensive interest in the brain, particularly in relation to the concept of consciousness. Therefore, many chapters include introductory material relating to neuroscience, neuropsychology and psychophysiology. There is also a critique of the use of alpha activity in biofeedback, hypnosis and meditation. Because EEG research is very dependent on advances in the technology of EEG measurement, an introduction to this technology is included as an appendix. A second appendix describes the historical origin of the concept of desynchronisation.

Rhythms of the Brain

Author: Gyorgy Buzsaki
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019804125X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Book Description
This book provides eloquent support for the idea that spontaneous neuron activity, far from being mere noise, is actually the source of our cognitive abilities. In a sequence of "cycles," György Buzsáki guides the reader from the physics of oscillations through neuronal assembly organization to complex cognitive processing and memory storage. His clear, fluid writing-accessible to any reader with some scientific knowledge-is supplemented by extensive footnotes and references that make it just as gratifying and instructive a read for the specialist. The coherent view of a single author who has been at the forefront of research in this exciting field, this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in our rapidly evolving understanding of the brain.