James McGaugh – författare

Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001. Why do most experiences leave little trace while some-even terrible ordeals that people wish they could forget-leave memories that last a lifetime? That is the mystery at the heart of this book. Drawing on fascinating research and case studies, James McGaugh, a distinguished neuroscientist, reveals that the key to understanding how memories are created may well be understanding how they are lost. He shows that lasting memories are not stored instantly. Why the delay? The author explains how the slow consolidation of memory has important adaptive consequences. It allows physiological processes activated by experiences to regulate the strength of the memory of the experiences. Emotionally arousing experiences induce the release of stress hormones, which act on the brain to influence the consolidation of our memories of recent experience. These findings have important implications for the controversial issues of post-traumatic stress disorder and repressed memory syndrome.From the prescientific writings of William James to the animal studies of the memory-research pioneers Pavlov, Thorndike, and Tolman, to the latest research of psychologists and neurologists drawing on PET imaging studies of the brain and laboratory experiments involving a variety of drugs, this succinct book provides a wealth of information.

Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001. Why do most experiences leave little trace while some-even terrible ordeals that people wish they could forget-leave memories that last a lifetime? That is the mystery at the heart of this book. Drawing on fascinating research and case studies, James McGaugh, a distinguished neuroscientist, reveals that the key to understanding how memories are created may well be understanding how they are lost. He shows that lasting memories are not stored instantly. Why the delay? The author explains how the slow consolidation of memory has important adaptive consequences. It allows physiological processes activated by experiences to regulate the strength of the memory of the experiences. Emotionally arousing experiences induce the release of stress hormones, which act on the brain to influence the consolidation of our memories of recent experience. These findings have important implications for the controversial issues of post-traumatic stress disorder and repressed memory syndrome.From the prescientific writings of William James to the animal studies of the memory-research pioneers Pavlov, Thorndike, and Tolman, to the latest research of psychologists and neurologists drawing on PET imaging studies of the brain and laboratory experiments involving a variety of drugs, this succinct book provides a wealth of information.

Neurobiology of Sleep and Memory is the textual result of a symposium regarding the basic neurological processes in the storage of different kinds of memories (short-term and long-term). This book gives much focus on the relationship of sleep and memory and how they preserve personality and all its characteristics. The study of the interrelation of the two bodily processes also aims to help clarify neurological bases of disorders of sleep and memory and other forms of mental illness. This text consists of 23 chapters that encompass a wide span of topics regarding sleep and memory. Some of these topics include blood-brain barrier; protein synthesis in RNA and central nervous system; neuronal activity patterns during REM sleep; post-trial reticular stimulation; and sleep-related hormones. This book also discusses the phylogenetic correlations of sleep and memory not just in mammals but also in reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and birds. This reference material is a valuable source of information to both students and professionals studying biology, psychology, pharmacology, and neuroscience.

Psychobiology: Behavior from a Biological Perspective covers the problems encountered in understanding the biology of behavior. This book contains seven chapters that present a contemporary analysis of the essential features of these problems. Chapter 1 provides extensive evidence concerning the evolution of specific aspects of behavior and illustrates the genetic processes underlying the evolution of behavior. Chapter 2 presents a contemporary analysis of the problem of instinctive behavior. Chapters 3 to 7 are concerned with processes underlying behavior, including sensory processes, motivation, attention, and memory. These chapters discuss the essential issues together with contemporary facts and theories. This work will be of value to psychobiologists, neurobiologists, behaviorists, and researchers who are interested in the biological aspects of behavior.

This volume is based on presentations at an interdisciplinary conference on The Chemistry of Mood, Motivation and Memory which was held at the University of California, San Francisco in October, 1971. The conference was sponsored and supported by the Division of Continuing Education in Health Sciences. We thank Dr. Ruben Dixon and his staff for help in planning the conference and for attending to all of the organizational details. We particularly thank the participants for their contributions to the conference and for their cooperation in preparing the manu­ scripts based on their conference presentations. All of the details involved in preparing the volume for publi­ cation were handled by Karen Dodd. We are grateful to her for her tireless, efficient and productive efforts. We hope that this volume will help to stimulate further interest as well as understanding of the biochemical bases of our behavior. James L. McGaugh v CONTRIBUTORS Bernard W. Agranoff, Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry Mental Health Research Institute The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Samuel H. Barondes, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry School of Medicine University of California at San Diego La Jolla, California Barry D. Berger, Ph.D. Wyeth Laboratories Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Enoch Callaway, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry University of California School of Medicine San Francisco, California J. Anthony Deutsch, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of California at San Diego La Jolla, California Edward Glassman, Ph.D.