Brain and Behavior: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective addresses the central aims of cognitive neuroscience, seeking to examine the brain not only by its components but also by their functions. It highlights the principles, discoveries, and remaining mysteries of modern cognitive neuroscience. Brain and Behavior covers a wide swath of territory critical for understanding the brain, from the basics of the nervous system, to sensory and motor systems, sleep, language, memory, emotions and motivation, social cognition, and brain disorders. Throughout the narrative, the authors emphasize the dynamically changing nature of the brain, through the mechanisms of neuroplasticity. Wherever possible, they refer to elements of neuroscience that are encountered in everyday life. Key points and concepts are illustrated using case studies of rare but illuminating brain disorders. Brain and Behavior pulls together the best current knowledge about the brain while acknowledging current areas of ignorance and pointing students towards the most promising directions for future research.

Table of Contents:
*Every chapter ends with the following: Conclusion, Key Principles, Key Terms, Review Questions, and Critical-Thinking Questions Contents Preface Part I: The Basics Chapter 1: Introduction Learning Objectives Starting Out: A Spark of Awe in the Darkness Who Are We? The Mission of Cognitive Neuroscience Neuroscience Is a Relatively New Field In Pursuit of Principles The Functions behind the Form Which Parts Matter? What Is the Brain For? How We Know What We Know Connectional Methods Correlational Methods Research Methods: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Lesion Methods Stimulation Methods A Toolbox of Complementary Methods Thinking Critically about the Brain Is the Brain Equipped to Understand Itself? Biases and Pitfalls in Human Cognition A Toolbox of Critical-Thinking Techniques The Big Questions in Cognitive Neuroscience Why Have a Brain at All? (Chapter 2) How Is Information Coded in Neural Activity? (Chapter 3) How Does the Brain Balance Stability against Change? (Chapter 4) Why Does Vision Have So Little to Do with the Eyes? (Chapter 5) How Does the Brain Stitch Together a Picture of the World from Different Senses? (Chapter 6) How Does the Brain Control Our Actions? (Chapter 7) What Is Consciousness? (Chapter 8) How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved? (Chapter 9) Why Do Brains Sleep and Dream? (Chapter 10) How Does the Human Brain Acquire Its Unique Ability for Language? (Chapter 11) How Do We Make Decisions? (Chapter 12) What Are Emotions? (Chapter 13) How Do We Set Our Priorities? (Chapter 14) How Do I Know What You're Thinking? (Chapter 15) What Causes Disorders of the Mind and the Brain? (Chapter 16) The Payoffs of Cognitive Neuroscience Healing the Disordered Brain Enhancing Human Abilities Blueprints for Artificial Cognition Brain-Compatible Social Policies Chapter 2: The Brain and Nervous System Learning Objectives Starting Out: The Brains of Creatures Great and Small An Overview of the Nervous System Why Put Your Neurons in a Brain at All? The Common Features of Every Central Nervous System Getting Oriented in the Brain The Peripheral Nervous System Separate Systems for the Inner and Outer Environments A Nervous System with Segmental Organization The Spinal Cord Circuits within a Segment: Spinal Reflexes Case Study: Christopher Reeve, 1952-2004 Complex Circuits across Segments: Central Pattern Generators The Bigger Picture: In Search of a Cure for Spinal Cord Injury The Brainstem Medulla Oblongata and Pons Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Why Do We Get the Hiccups? Midbrain Most Cranial Nerves Emerge from the Brainstem The Cerebellum Circuitry of the "Little Brain" Functions of the Little Brain The Diencephalon: Hypothalamus and Thalamus Hypothalamus: A Keystone Structure in Homeostasis Thalamus Case Study: Waking the Brain The Telencephalon: Cerebral Cortex and Basal Ganglia Cerebral Cortex Basal Ganglia Research Methods: Cytoarchitecture of the Cortex Uniting the Inside and Outside Worlds The Limbic System The Ventricular System and Brain Function Conclusion Key Principles Key Terms Review Questions Critical-Thinking Questions Chapter 3: Neurons and Synapses Learning Objectives Starting Out: The Kabuki Actor and the Pufferfish The Cells of the Brain Neurons: A Close-Up View Many Different Types of Neurons Glial Cells Research Methods: Visualizing Neurons and Their Products Synaptic Transmission: Chemical Signaling in the Brain Release of Neurotransmitter at the Synapse Types of Neurotransmitters Receptors Postsynaptic Potentials The Bigger Picture: Psychoactive Drugs Spikes: Electrical Signaling in the Brain Adding Up the Signals How an Action Potential Travels Myelinating Axons to Make the Action Potential Travel Faster Action Potentials Reach the Terminals and Cause Neurotransmitter Release Case Study: Multiple Sclerosis Neuroscience of Everyday Life: The Magic of a Local Anesthetic What Do Spikes Mean? The Neural Code Encoding Stimuli in Spikes Decoding Spikes Research Methods: Recording Action Potentials with Electrodes Individuals and Populations Populations of Neurons Forming a Coalition: What Constitutes a Group? Open Questions for Future Investigation Chapter 4: Neuroplasticity Learning Objectives Starting Out: The Child with Half a Brain The Brain Dynamically Reorganizes to Match Its Inputs Changes to the Body Plan Case Study: Phantom Sensation Research Methods: Mapping Out the Brain Changes to Sensory Input The Brain Distributes Resources Based on Relevance The Role of Behavior The Role of Relevance: Gating Plasticity with Neuromodulation Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Pianists and Violinists Have Different Brains Case Study: The Government Worker with the Missing Brain The Brain Uses the Available Tissue Maps Adjust Themselves to the Available Brain Tissue Cortical Reorganization after Brain Damage A Sensitive Period for Plastic Changes A Window of Time to Make Changes Case Study: Danielle, the Feral Child in the Window The Sensitive Period in Language Neuromodulation in Young Brains Hardwiring versus World Experience Aspects of the Brain Are Preprogrammed Experience Changes the Brain Brains Rely on Experience to Unpack Their Programs Correctly The Mechanisms of Reorganization Neurons Compete for Limited Space Competition for Neurotrophins Rapid Changes: Unmasking Existing Connections Slow Changes: Growth of New Connections Changing the Input Channels Case Study: The Man Who Climbs with his Tongue The Bigger Picture: Adding New Peripherals Part II: How the Brain Interacts with the World Chapter 5: Vision Learning Objectives Starting Out: Vision Is More Than the Eyes Visual Perception What Is It Like to See? Signal Transduction Anatomy of the Visual System Sensory Transduction: The Eye and Its Retina Case Study: The Bionic Retina Path to the Visual Cortex: The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus The Visual Cortex Two Eyes Are Better Than One: Stereo Vision Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Random-Dot Stereograms Higher Visual Areas Secondary and Tertiary Visual Cortex: Processing Becomes More Complex Ventral Stream: What an Object Is The Bigger Picture: Reading the Movies in Our Minds Dorsal Stream: How to Interact with the World Case Study: The World in Snapshots Attention and the Dorsal Stream Comparing the Ventral and Dorsal Processing Streams The Bigger Picture of the Visual Brain Case Study: The Blind Woman Who Could See, Sort Of Perception Is Active, Not Passive Interrogating the Scene with Our Eyes The Blind Spot Seeing the Same Object Different Ways: Multistability Binocular Rivalry: Different Images in the Two Eyes We Don't See Most of What Hits Our Eyes: Fetching Information on a Need-to-Know Basis Vision Relies on Expectations Change Blindness Saving Resources by Embedding Prior Experience Unconscious Inference Activity from Within Feedback Allows an Internal Model Chapter 6: Other Senses Learning Objectives Starting Out: The Man with the Bionic Ear Detecting Data from the World Hearing Research Methods: Psychophysics The Outer and Middle Ear Converting Mechanical Information into Electrical Signals: The Inner Ear Neuroscience of Everyday Life: The Undetectable Cell Phone The Auditory Nerve and Primary Auditory Cortex The Hierarchy of Sound Processing Sound Localization Balance The Somatosensory System Touch Temperature Pain Case Study: The Pain of a Painless Existence Proprioception Interoception The Somatosensory Pathway Chemical Senses Taste Smell The Sense of Flavor Pheromones The Brain Is Multisensory Synesthesia Combining Sensory Information The Binding Problem The Internal Model of the World Case Study: The Paralyzed Supreme Court Justice Who Claimed He Could Play Football Time Perception Chapter 7: The Motor System Learning Objectives Starting Out: "'Locked-In Syndrome"' Muscles Skeletal Muscle: Structure and Function The Neuromuscular Junction The Spinal Cord Lower Motor Neurons Spinal Motor Circuits: Reflexes Spinal Motor Circuits: Central Pattern Generators Descending Pathways of Motor Control The Cerebellum The Circuitry of the Cerebellum Motor Functions of the Cerebellum Nonmotor Functions of the Cerebellum The Motor Cortex Motor Cortex: Neural Coding of Movements Motor Cortex: Recent Controversies The Bigger Picture: Neural Implants for Motor Control The Prefrontal Cortex: Goals to Strategies to Tactics to Actions The Functional Organization of the Prefrontal Cortex in Motor Control Sensory Feedback Mirror Neurons in Premotor Cortex Control Stages of the Motor Hierarchy Basal Ganglia Components of the Basal Ganglia Circuitry of the Basal Ganglia Diseases of the Basal Ganglia Medial and Lateral Motor Systems: Internally and Externally Guided Movement Control Organization of Medial Motor Areas Functions of Medial and Lateral Motor Systems Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Why Can't I Multitask? Did I Really Do That? The Neuroscience of Free Will Research Methods: Neurosurgical Stimulation Case Study: Alien Hand Syndrome Part III: Higher Levels of Interaction Chapter 8: Attention and Consciousness Learning Objectives Starting Out: The Stream of Consciousness Awareness Requires Attention Change Blindness Inattentional Blindness Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Stage Magic Approaches to Studying Attention and Awareness Attentional Orienting Paradigms: Aiming the "Spotlight" of Attention The Oddball Paradigm: Monitoring a Physiological Measure of Attention Uncoupling Sensory Input from Perception: Sensory Rivalry Neural Mechanisms of Attention and Awareness Seeking the Correlates of Consciousness Hemineglect: A Disorder of Attention and Awareness Case Study: Unaware of Half of the World Neural Correlates of Attention: A Single Network, or Many? Case Study: Whose Arm Is This, Anyway? Sites of Attentional Modulation: Neurons and Neural Populations The Biased-Competition Model of Attention Attention and Single Neurons: Enhancing the Signal Attention and Local Groups of Neurons Synchronization, Attention, and Awareness Coma and Vegetative State: Anatomy of the Conscious State Why Should Synchronization Matter? Unconsciousness: Coma and Vegetative State Case Study: Waking the Brain Midbrain and Thalamus: Key Players in the Conscious State Anesthesia and Sleep: Rhythms of Consciousness Sleep: Unraveling the Rhythm of Consciousness Anesthesia: Reversible, Artificial Unconsciousness Theories of Consciousness Dualism: The Mind-Body Problem Functionalist Theories of Consciousness Consciousness and the Integration of Information Chapter 9: Memory Learning Objectives Starting Out: "The Woman Who Cannot Forget" The Many Kinds of Memory Working and Long-Term Memory Implicit Memory Explicit Memory Travels in Space and Time: The Hippocampus and Temporal Lobe Case Study: Gone but Not Forgotten: Henry Molaison, 1926-2008 A Map of the Medial Temporal Lobe Episodic Memory Spatial Memory Theories of Hippocampal Function Unifying the Functions of the Hippocampus Remembering the Future: Prospection and Imagination How We Imagine Future Experiences Research Methods: Localizing Human Brain Function The Circuitry of Prospection and Recollection Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Simonides and the Champions of Memory Prospection in Other Species Models of Prospection The Confabulation of Reality Confabulation in the Injured Brain Case Study: The Woman with a Thirty-Year-Old Baby The Anatomy of Spontaneous Confabulation Confabulation in the Normal Brain The Anatomy of a False Memory The Bigger Picture: Scanning for the Truth The Mechanisms of Memory General Mechanisms of Learning and Memory Memory as Synaptic Change Long-Term Potentiation and Depression of Synaptic Connections The NMDA Receptor Consolidation and Reconsolidation Associative Neural Networks Beyond Synaptic Plasticity: The Frontiers of Memory Mechanisms Whole Neurons as a Substrate for Memory? New Neurons for New Memories Spines: Another Structural Basis for Memory? Looking inside the Cell: Memory in Chemical Reactions Case Study: The Flies with Photographic Memory Epigenetics: Making a Single Genome Play Different Tunes The Mysteries of Memory Are the Roles Of LTP and LTD Overstated? The Timing of Spikes The Limitations of Neural Networks Neural Networks: Solving the Wrong Problem? Remembering Relationships, Not Features The Future of Memory Research Chapter 10: Sleep Learning Objectives Starting Out: Caught between Sleeping and Waking Sleep and the Brain The Brain Is Active during Sleep Research Methods: Electroencephalography The Neural Networks of Sleep The Brain during REM Sleep The Circadian Rhythm Entrainment of the Circadian Rhythm by Light Cues The Circadian Rhythm Is Not Fixed Case Study: The Shifted Circadian Rhythm The Circadian Rhythm and Napping The Bigger Picture: Schools and Circadian Rhythms Why Do Brains Sleep? Four Theories of Sleeping: Restoration, Survival, Simulation, Learning Rehearsal Forgetting Insight and the Restructuring of Information Dreaming Dream Content The Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Lucid Dreaming Can Dreams Shed Light on Consciousness? Dreams of the Future and How to Study Them Sleep Deprivation and Disorders Sleep Deprivation Case Study: Staying Awake Insomnia Hypersomnia Case Study: The Family Who Couldn't Sleep Parasomnias Chapter 11: Language and Lateralization Learning Objectives Starting Out: The Stuttering King Speech, Language, and Communication Aphasia: The Loss of Language Case Study: The Woman Who Couldn't Find Her Words Broca's Aphasia Wernicke's Aphasia Case Study: The Woman Who Makes Up Words A Language Network The Larger Picture of Language-Specific Regions Dyslexia Stuttering Lateralization: The Two Hemispheres Are Not Identical Tests for Dominance Apraxia Hemispheric Differences Two Brains in One? The Case of the Split-Brain Patients Thinking about Cerebral Asymmetry Development of Language Learning Language from Experience Innate Language Tendencies Socially and Emotionally Directed Learning Research Methods: The Baby with No Privacy Part IV: Motivated Behaviors Chapter 12: Decision Making Learning Objectives Starting Out: A Fatal Mistake, at the Highest Place on Earth How Do We Decide What to Do? The Scorpion and the Frog The Search for a "Physics" of Human Decisions Homo economicus and Rational Choice Theory The Predictably Irrational Homo sapiens Homo sapiens versus Homo economicus Confused by Uncertainty The Framing Effect and the Endowment Effect The Illusory Value of Procrastination Where Do Our Irrational Decisions Come From? Decision Making in Other Species Do Irrational Decisions Come from Irrational People? One Brain, Two Systems How the Brain Decides The Neural Mechanisms of Delay Discounting Neural Mechanisms of Decisions under Risk The Neural Basis of the Endowment Effect The Neural Basis of the Framing Effect The Common Currency of Subjective Value Comparing Apples to Oranges Research Methods: Charting the Landscape of Subjective Value A Consistent Neural Basis for Subjective Value Evaluation and the Orbitofrontal Cortex One Currency, But Many Markets The Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Snack Food or Brussels Sprouts? A Hierarchy of Internally Guided Decision Making Internally and Externally Guided Decision Making Values into Goals Goals into Plans Plans into Behavior and Action Modulators of Decision Making Strategic Use of Decision-Making Systems Neurotransmitter Effects on Decision Making The Bigger Picture: How to Avoid the Scorpion's Sting Chapter 13: Emotions Learning Objectives Starting Out: Sadness, at the Flip of a Switch Early Theories of Emotion Emotional Expressions: Signposts on a Landscape of Inner States The James-Lange Theory of Emotion: A Bottom-Up Theory The Cannon-Bard Theory: A Top-Down Theory Case Study: Pathological Laughter and Crying Two-Factor Theories: Reconciling Central and Peripheral Influences on Emotion Core Limbic Structures: Amygdala and Hypothalamus Hypothalamus: Internal States, Homeostatic Drives Case Study: An Internal Growth of Rage Do Hypothalamic Circuits Generate Inner Emotional Experiences? Amygdala: Externally Generated States and Drives The Amygdala and Emotional Experience Case Study: The Woman Who Knows No Fear Hippocampus: Emotional Memories Ventral Striatum: Pleasure and Reward Bringing It All Together: The Circuit of Papez and the Ring of Limbic Cortex The Bigger Picture: The Ethics of Brain Stimulation in Human Beings The Limbic Cortex and Emotions The Interoceptive Insula: The "Feeling" Side of Emotions Cingulate Cortex: A Motor Cortex for the Limbic System Neuroscience of Everyday Life: Mental Effort Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex: A Generator of Gut Feelings Limbic Association Cortex: Modulation of Emotion The Mechanisms of Emotional Reappraisal Brain Injury, Brain Stimulation, and Emotion Regulation Neurochemical Influences on Emotion Case Study: A Cure Born of Desperation Serotonin and Mood Norepinephrine and Mood GABA and Anxiety Chapter 14: Motivation and Reward Learning Objectives Starting Out: "More Important Than Survival Itself" Motivation and Survival Addiction: An Illness of Motivation Why Motivation Matters Feelings: The Sensory Side of Motivation The Circuitry of Motivation: Basic Drives Hypothalamus and Homeostatic Drives Amygdala and External-World Drives Midbrain Dopamine Neurons and the Common Currency of Motivation Reward, Learning, and the Brain Defining Reward Learning from Reward Using Prediction Error "Liking" Is Different from "Wanting" Opioids and the Sensation of Pleasure Opioids, Opioid Receptors, and Opioid Functions Opioids and Reward Dopamine, Learning, Motivation, and Reward Dopamine Functions in Motivation and Reward Unifying the Functions of Dopamine Research Methods: Measuring Neurotransmitter Levels in the Brain Neurotransmitters Are Messengers, Not Functions Addiction: Pathological Learning and Motivation Addictive Substances Have Distorted Reward Value Neuroscience of Everyday Life: The Pursuit of Happiness Addiction Is a Result of Pathological Learning The Circuitry and Chemistry of Addiction Unlearning Addiction The Challenge of Treatment Case Study: Pathological Gambling in a Patient with Parkinson's Disease Existing Approaches to Treatment Future Approaches to Treatment The Bigger Picture: Finding the Motivation to Change Chapter 15: Social Cognition Learning Objectives Starting Out: Why Risk Your Life for a Yellow T-shirt? Social Perception What's in a Face? Do I Look Like a Liar to You? Neuroscience of Everyday Life: A Poker Face Social Knowledge and the Temporal Pole Social Signals and the Superior Temporal Sulcus Social Thinking: Theory of Mind What Is Theory of Mind? Neural Mechanisms of Theory of Mind Mirror Neurons and Theory of Mind Disorders of Theory of Mind Social Feelings: Empathy and Its Many Components An Emotional Theory of Mind Empathy, Sympathy, and Compassion Neural Mechanisms of Emotional Mimicry and Contagion Neural Mechanisms of Empathy, Sympathy, and Antipathy Disorders of Empathy Social Emotions, Motivations, and Behavior Social Emotions from Theory of Mind Case Study: Acquired Sociopathy Social Emotions from Social Values Social Reward and Social Aversion The Anatomy of a Lie Neurotransmitters and Social Behavior Research Methods: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation An Ancient and Fundamental System Oxytocin Vasopressin The Bigger Picture: The Brave New World of the "Cuddle Hormone"? The Social Self The Wondrous Self-Awareness of the Human Brain Forms of Self-Awareness Why Bother with Self-Awareness? Neural Correlates of Self-Awareness Disorders of Self-Awareness Self-Awareness and Social Cognition Case Study: The Man in the Mirror Part V: Disorders of Brain and Behavior Chapter 16: Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Learning Objectives Starting Out: Epilepsy: "The Sacred Disease" Alzheimer's Disease: Burning Out with Age? Frontotemporal Dementia: Like a Cancer of the Soul Case Study: Ravel and "Bolero" Huntington's Disease: A Genetic Rarity, in Two Senses Tourette Syndrome: A Case of Involuntary Volition? Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Neurological or Psychiatric? Research Methods: Voxel-Based Morphometry Schizophrenia: A Dementia of the Young Bipolar Disorder Depression: A Global Burden Impact of Depression Case Study: A Lifetime Studying, and Living with, Bipolar Disorder Causes of Depression Neurochemical Effects of Depression on the Brain Functional Effects of Depression on the Brain Treatment of Depression