The Mind's Machine, introduced in 2012, was written to impart the core concepts of behavioral neuroscience to students in a diverse range of disciplines, including not only psychology and the other life sciences, but art, philosophy, media studies, linguistics, and the like. Through the use of streamlined text, full-color art, novel pedagogical features, and real-life examples and analogies, the book succeeded in engaging students new to neuroscience without sacrificing accuracy.
Features
NEW! Signs and Symptoms
This new feature highlights important clinical issues related to the chapter topics that apply behavioral neuroscience to the study of clinical disorders.
Vignettes
Each chapter begins with a gripping vignette relating the material that follows to a real-life situation.
Visual Summary
A graphic layout helps organize the material, and directs students to the figures that reinforce each point. Bold-faced key terms, callouts to pertinent figures, and references to the Companion Website are provided.
Parts
Larger, standalone 'Parts' of chaptersare written discretely to maximize flexibility in assigning readings.
Marginal Glossary
Bold-faced terms are defined in the margins of the text to help students identify and learn key terminology as they read.
Researchers at Work
Important discoveries are explained and illustrated to highlight the process of experimentation and hypothesis testing.
QR Codes
Using their smartphones, students can instantly access support material from the Companion Website, such as animations, activities, and videos to further explain topics.
Color Art
The figures are beautifully drawn to aid students' understanding of biological processes. Concisely labeled and explained, the figures are one of the strongest pedagogical features in the text.
Boxes
Boxes describe interesting applications, important methods, sidelights, historical perspectives, or refreshers on theoretical concepts.
A Step Further
This feature offers additional, more advanced material for an instructor who wants to make certain topics more challenging or for students who want to know more
'How's it going?' Questions
At the end of each section are review questions to help students organize and rehearse what they've learned from the text.
Photographs
Photographs show students 'real-life' examples of concepts and topics.
Table of Contents
1. An Introduction to Brain and Behavior
Updated and new facts and figures to illustrate the complexity of the brain
Discussion of the historical origins and accelerating pace of discovery in neuroscience
Enhanced discussion of neuroplasticity as a general feature of neural systems
2. Cells and Structures: The Anatomy of the Nervous System
Signs & Symptoms: Stroke
Revamped discussion of somatic and autonomic divisions of the peripheral nervous system
Improved illustrations using color coding to link functional and anatomical divisions of the spinal cord
Improved discussion of the blood supply of the brain
New or improved figures depicting types of strokes, cranial nerves, and neuronal structures
3. Neurophysiology: The Generation, Transmission, and Integration of Neural Signals
Signs & Symptoms: Multiple Sclerosis
Improved discussion of steps in synaptic transmission
Refinement of the text in the Visual Summary
4. The Chemistry of Behavior: Neurotransmitters and Neuropharmacology
Signs & Symptoms: Medical Interventions for Substance Abuse
Improved and expanded discussion of neurotransmitters
Updated discussion of cannabinoids and hallucinogens
Updated text and figures on drug abuse
Updates to reflect DSM-5 changes
5. The Sensorimotor System
Signs & Symptoms: Hazards of Painlessness
Updated placement of representation for the neck in the sensory and motor cortex, following a 2015 research report
6. Hearing, Balance, Taste, and Smell
Signs & Symptoms: Restoring Auditory Stimulation in Deafness
New and improved description and illustrations of the function and frequency mapping of the basilar membrane
Updated discussion of sensory adaptations in other species
Clearer presentation of vestibular function
7. Vision: From Eye to Brain
Signs & Symptoms: Robot Eyes?
Improved discussion of visual receptive fields
Streamlined discussion of photopic and scotopic visual systems
8. Hormones and Sex
Signs & Symptoms: Psychosocial Dwarfism
Discussion of effects of hormones in pregnancy on cognition
Updated discussion of prenatal influences on human sexual orientation
9. Homeostasis
Signs & Symptoms: Fat-Busting Surgery
New discussion of allostatic load
Updated discussion and improved illustration of the hypothalamic appetite controller
New illustration of bariatric surgery
10. Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Signs & Symptoms: REM Behavior Disorder
Updated discussion of brain regions controlling sleep states
Discussion of new evidence that toxins are 'cleaned out' of the brain during sleep
11. Emotions, Aggression, and Stress
Signs & Symptoms: Long-term consequences of childhood bullying
Update on fear of suffocation in patient S.M.
Discussion of maternal aggression
12. Psychopathology: The Biology of Behavioral Disorders
Signs & Symptoms: Mixed Feelings about SSRIs
New discussion and reorganization to reflect changes in DSM-5
Extensive update to the description of schizophrenia, with a new symptom-mapping table
Improved coverage of antipsychotic medication
New data and discussion regarding the efficacy of antidepressant treatments
13. Memory, Learning, and Development
Signs & Symptoms: Imaging Alzheimer's Plaques
Update on patient K.C., Kent Cochrane
New figure on hippocampal place cells
14. Attention and Consciousness
Signs & Symptoms: Difficulty with sustained attention can sometimes be relieved with stimulants
Streamlined discussion of attentional processes
Updated and expanded discussion of consciousness, adding material on the default mode network
New table on aspects of consciousness in other species
Discussion of frontal lobe syndromes
Discussion of recreation of mental experiences from measurements of brain activity
15. Brain Asymmetry, Spatial Cognition, and Language
Signs & Symptoms: The Amazing Resilience of a Child's Brain
Updated discussion of genetic aspects of communication
Improved coverage of neural bases of dyslexia
Updated discussion of laterality