Synopses & Reviews
Over the past thirty-five years, there has been an explosive increase in scientists' ability to explain the structure and functioning of the human brain. While psychology has advanced our understanding of human behavior, various other sciences, such as anatomy, physiology, and biology, have determined the critical importance of synapses and, through the use of advanced technology, made it possible actually to see brain cells at work within the skull's walls. Here Jean-Pierre Changeux elucidates our current knowledge of the human brain, taking an interdisciplinary approach and explaining in layman's terms the complex theories and scientific breakthroughs that have significantly improved our understanding in the twentieth century.
Review
"Jean-Pierre Changeux . . . explores the fascinating question of how the human brain, similar in so many ways to the brains of less developed species, is able to accomplish so much more. . . . [He] presents his . . . view with verve, conviction, and an admirable lucidity."--Richard Restak, Washington Post Book World
Review
"An outstanding attempt to convey to the general public an interdisciplinary understanding of the human nervous system."--Nature
Review
Jean-Pierre Changeux . . . explores the fascinating question of how the human brain, similar in so many ways to the brains of less developed species, is able to accomplish so much more. . . . [He] presents his . . . view with verve, conviction, and an admirable lucidity. Richard Restak
Review
An outstanding attempt to convey to the general public an interdisciplinary understanding of the human nervous system. Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
Over the past thirty-five years, there has been an explosive increase in scientists' ability to explain the structure and functioning of the human brain. While psychology has advanced our understanding of human behavior, various other sciences, such as anatomy, physiology, and biology, have determined the critical importance of synapses and, through the use of advanced technology, made it possible actually to see brain cells at work within the skull's walls. Here Jean-Pierre Changeux elucidates our current knowledge of the human brain, taking an interdisciplinary approach and explaining in layman's terms the complex theories and scientific breakthroughs that have significantly improved our understanding in the twentieth century.
Table of Contents
| Preface to the Princeton Science Library Edition | |
| Preface | |
1 | The "Organ of the Soul" - from Ancient Egypt to the Belle Epoque | 3 |
| Man Thinks with His Brain | 3 |
| Body and Soul | 7 |
| Phrenology | 13 |
| The Neuron | 21 |
| Electric Current and "Medicinal Substances" | 29 |
| The "Good Sense" of History | 36 |
2 | The Component Parts of the Brain | 38 |
| The Macroscopic View of the Brain | 39 |
| The Expansion of the Neocortex | 43 |
| Microcircuits | 46 |
| Wiring | 52 |
| Modules or Crystals | 58 |
| From Mouse to Man | 65 |
3 | Animal Spirits | 67 |
| Cerebral Electricity | 68 |
| The Nerve Signal | 73 |
| Oscillators | 77 |
| From One Neuron to Another | 83 |
| The Keys to Molecule Locks | 90 |
| "Psychic Atoms" Reexamined | 95 |
4 | Into Action | 97 |
| To Sing and to Flee | 98 |
| To Drink and to Suffer | 103 |
| To Enjoy and to Be Angry | 107 |
| To Reach Orgasm | 112 |
| To Analyze | 115 |
| To Speak and to Do | 120 |
| From Stimulus to Response | 124 |
5 | Mental Objects | 126 |
| The Materiality of Mental Images | 127 |
| From Percept to Concept and Thought | 130 |
| Toward a Biological Theory of Mental Objects | 134 |
| Assembling the Neurons | 140 |
| Problems of Consciousness | 145 |
| Attention | 151 |
| The Calculation of Emotion | 158 |
| Seeing Mental Objects | 161 |
| The Substance of the Spirit | 168 |
6 | The Power of the Genes | 170 |
| Anatomical Mutations | 171 |
| Heredity and Behavior | 175 |
| The Simplicity of the Genome and the Complexity of the Brain | 180 |
| The Automaton Cell | 186 |
| The Embryo System | 191 |
| The Genesis of the Cortex | 195 |
| The Predestination of the Brain | 202 |
7 | Epigenesis | 205 |
| Differences between Identical Twins | 206 |
| The Behavior of the Growth Cone | 212 |
| Regression and Redundancy | 216 |
| The Dreams of the Embryo | 220 |
| Building the Synapse | 223 |
| The Theory of Epigenesis by Selective Stabilization of Synapses | 227 |
| The Experimental Testing of Epigenesis | 229 |
| Hemispheric Specialization - a Genetic or Epigenetic Process? | 235 |
| The Cultural Imprint | 241 |
| "To Learn Is to Eliminate" | 246 |
8 | Anthropogenesis | 250 |
| Monkey Chromosomes | 251 |
| Fossil Puzzles | 255 |
| The Winks of the Young Chimpanzee | 259 |
| Genes for Communication and Selective Stabilization | 264 |
| The Genetics of Australopithecus | 268 |
| The "Phenomenon of Man" Reconsidered | 271 |
9 | The Brain - Representation of the World | 273 |
| Glossary | 285 |
| Notes | 293 |
| Bibliography | 301 |
| Index | 333 |