Synopses & Reviews
Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970's.
The importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought-- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter.
The book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way.
Review
"Brain architecture reeks of complicated neuroanatomy, an obtuse nomenclature, and little function; but Brain Architecture is different. To provide readers with an elementary knowledge of the nervous system, Larry Swanson combines a historical and a broad, comparative biological approach." --Science
Table of Contents
1. How the Brain Works: Structure and Function Three Biological Prespectives
2. The Simplest Nervous System: neurons, nerve nets, and behavior, Unicellular organism: behaviors essential for survival, Animals without neurons: independent effectors, The first nervous system: hydra's body and behavior, Sensory neurons: functional polarity of dendrites and axon, Montoneurons: another distinct neuronal type, Nerve nets: amacrine processes and activity patterns, Interneurons: sign switchers and pattern generators, Overview: evolution of architecture not building blocks
3. Centralization and Symmetry: ganglia and nerves, Flatworm: bilaterally symmetrical predators, Segmented worms: inner ventral nerve cord, More evolved invertebrates, Overview: polarity, regionaliation, bilateral symmetry, segments
4. The Basic Vertebrate Plan: nervous system topology, Embryological perspectives, Earliest stages of mammalian development, Neural plate: brain and spinal cord, Neural tube: transverse brain divisions, Neural crest and placodes: peripheral nervous system, Generating neuronal cell types and groups: longitudal brain divisions, A nervous system fate map, Overview: parts of the nervous system
5. Brain and Behavior: a four systems network model, Reflex and voluntary control of behavior, Behavioral state control, Feedback, Topography versus systems, Overview: defining each system
6. The Motor System: coordinating external and internal behaviors, Motoneuron varieties, Introduction to the somatomotor system: flexion, Distribution of somatomotor neuron pools, Central pattern generators- sets of motoneuron pools, Pattern initiators and controllers: drive and motivation, The autonomic motor system, The neuroendocrine motor system, The cerebellum: motor coordination and learning, Overview: integration within and between motor systems.
7. The Behavioral State System: intrinsic control of sleep and wakefulness, Circadian rhythms: the day-night cycle, Reproductive cycles, Sleep-wake cycles, Modulating behavioral state.
8. The Cognitive System: Thinking and voluntary control behavior, Cerebral cortex regionalization, Cortical projections, The cerebral nuclei, Triple descending projection from cerebrum
9. The Sensory System: inputs from environment and body, Evolution and development of sensory neurons, Overview of sensory neurons, Overview of sensory pathways, Forebrain sensory systems: olfactory, visual, humoral, and osmotic, Ganglion cell sensory systems: submodalities, Affect: pain and pleasure, emotion, and mood
10. Modifiability: learning, stress, cycles, and damage repair, Learing: changing synaptic strength, Stress: biochemical switching, Cycles: circadian and reproductive, Damage repair: regrowth
11. Gene Networks: relationship to neural networks
Appendices
A. Describing position in the animal body
B. Naming and classifying nervous system parts
C. Methods for analyzing brain architecture
A. Describing position in the animal body