Neuroscience For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Get on the fast track to understanding neuroscience

Investigating how your senses work, how you move, and how you think and feel, Neuroscience For Dummies, 2^nd Edition is your straight-forward guide to the most complicated structure known in the universe: the brain. Covering the most recent scientific discoveries and complemented with helpful diagrams and engaging anecdotes that help bring the information to life, this updated edition offers a compelling and plain-English look at how the brain and nervous system function.

Simply put, the human brain is an endlessly fascinating subject: it holds the secrets to your personality, use of language, memories, and the way your body operates. In just the past few years alone, exciting new technologies and an explosion of knowledge have transformed the field of neuroscience—and this friendly guide is here to serve as your roadmap to the latest findings and research. Packed with new content on genetics and epigenetics and increased coverage of hippocampus and depression, this new edition of Neuroscience For Dummies is an eye-opening and fascinating read for readers of all walks of life.

• Covers how gender affects brain function
• Illustrates why some people are more sensitive to pain than others
• Explains what constitutes intelligence and its different levels
• Offers guidance on improving your learning

What is the biological basis of consciousness? How are mental illnesses related to changes in brain function? Find the answers to these and countless other questions in Neuroscience For Dummies, 2^nd Edition

Table of Contents

Part 1: Introducing the Nervous System
Chapter 1: A Quick Trip through the Nervous System
Chapter 2: All about the Brain and Spinal Cord
Chapter 3: Understanding How Neurons Work

Part 2: Translating the Internal and External World through Your Senses
Chapter 4: Feeling Your Way: The Skin Senses
Chapter 5: Looking at Vision
Chapter 6: Sounding Off: The Auditory System
Chapter 7: Odors and Taste

Part 3: Moving Right Along: Motor Systems
Chapter 8: Movement Basics
Chapter 9: Coordinating Things More: The Spinal Cord and Pathways
Chapter 10: Planning and Executing Actions
Chapter 11: Unconscious Actions with Big Implications

Part 4: Intelligence: The Thinking Brain and Consciousness
Chapter 12: Understanding Intelligence, Consciousness, and Emotions
Chapter 13: How the Brain Processes Thoughts
Chapter 14: The Executive Brain
Chapter 15: Learning and Memory
Chapter 16: Developing and Modifying Brain Circuits: Plasticity
Chapter 17: Neural Dysfunctions, Mental Illness, and Drugs That Affect the Brain

Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Crucial Brain Structures
Chapter 19: Ten Tricks of Neurons That Make Them Do What They Do
Chapter 20: Ten Amazing Facts about the Brain
Chapter 21: Ten Promising Treatments for the Future