Neuroscience For Dummies

Frank Amthor, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Over the course of 45 years, Dr. Amthor taught the majority of the neuroscience courses offered by the UAB Psychology Department, including perception, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral neuroscience.

• Introduction 1Part 1: Introducing the Nervous System 5Chapter 1: A Quick Trip through the Nervous System 7Chapter 2: All about the Brain and Spinal Cord 23Chapter 3: Understanding How Neurons Work 51Part 2: Translating the Internal and External Worlds through Your Senses 69Chapter 4: Feeling Your Way: The Skin Senses 71Chapter 5: Looking at Vision 87Chapter 6: Sounding Off: The Auditory System 109Chapter 7: Odors and Taste 127Part 3: Moving Right Along: Motor Systems 143Chapter 8: Movement Basics 145Chapter 9: Coordinating Things More: The Spinal Cord and Pathways 159Chapter 10: Planning and Executing Actions 173Chapter 11: Unconscious Actions with Big Implications 191Part 4: Intelligence: The Thinking Brain and Consciousness 211Chapter 12: Understanding Intelligence, Consciousness, and Emotions 213Chapter 13: How the Brain Processes Thoughts 239Chapter 14: The Executive Brain 259Chapter 15: Learning and Memory 275Chapter 16: Developing and Modifying Brain Circuits: Plasticity 299Chapter 17: Neural Dysfunctions, Mental Illness, and Drugs That Affect the Brain 325Part 5: The Part of Tens 339Chapter 18: Ten (or So) Crucial Brain Structures 341Chapter 19: Ten Tricks of Neurons That Make Them Do What They Do 349Chapter 20: Ten Promising Treatments for the Future 357Glossary 367Index 383