Preface p. v
Organization of the nervous system p. 1
Neurons p. 1
Glial cells p. 5
Organization of the peripheral nervous system p. 7
Organization of the central nervous system p. 13
Meninges and cerebrospinal fluid p. 19
Blood-brain barrier p. 23
Neuron excitation p. 25
Membrane potentials p. 25
Voltage-dependent ion channels p. 30
Action potential conduction p. 36
Synapses p. 40
Synapse structure and function p. 40
Neurotransmitter release p. 45
Postsynaptic responses p. 51
Neurotransmitter inactivation p. 55
Neural integration p. 58
Neurotransmitters p. 60
Ligand-gated ion channel receptors p. 60
G-protein-coupled receptors p. 65
Amino acid transmitters p. 71
Dopamine p. 74
Noradrenaline (norepinephrine) p. 78
Serotonin p. 81
Acetylcholine p. 84
Purines and peptides p. 87
Elements of neural computing p. 90
Rate coding p. 90
Coding of modality and location p. 94
Elementary neural circuits p. 98
Temporal coding p. 101
Somatosensory systems p. 105
Sensory receptors p. 105
Touch p. 109
Pain p. 113
Pain pathology p. 120
Balance p. 125
Vision p. 130
Attributes of vision p. 130
Eye and visual pathways p. 134
Photoreceptors p. 140
Retinal processing p. 146
Early visual processing p. 152
Parallel processing in the visual system p. 157
Oculomotor control and visual attention p. 162
Hearing p. 171
Acoustics and audition p. 171
Anatomy and physiology of the ear p. 173
Peripheral auditory processing p. 177
Central auditory processing p. 179
Smell and taste p. 185
Olfactory receptor neurons p. 185
Olfactory pathways p. 187
Taste p. 190
Taste pathways p. 193
Motor function: spinal cord and brainstem p. 195
Nerve-muscle synapse p. 195
Motor units and motor pools p. 198
Elementary motor reflexes p. 202
Spinal motor function p. 209
Brainstem postural reflexes p. 215
Movement: cortex, cerebellum, and basal ganglia p. 220
Cortical control of voluntary movement p. 220
Motor lesions p. 226
Anatomy of the cerebellum p. 230
Cerebellar cortex circuitry p. 236
Cerebellar function p. 240
Anatomy of the basal ganglia p. 244
Basal ganglia function p. 249
Neuroendocrinology and autonomic functions p. 253
Anatomy and connections of the hypothalamus p. 253
Posterior pituitary function p. 257
Neuroendocrine control of metabolism and growth p. 261
Neuroendocrine control of reproduction p. 268
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) function p. 274
Control of vital functions p. 278
Brain and behavior p. 284
Emotion p. 284
Motivation and addiction p. 289
Control of feeding p. 294
Brain biological clocks p. 299
Sleep p. 302
Learning and memory p. 309
Types of learning p. 309
Working memory p. 315
Hippocampus and episodic learning p. 317
Long-term potentiation p. 322
Motor learning in the cerebellum: LTD p. 332
Neuroscience methods p. 335
Neuroimaging p. 335
Noninvasive electrophysiology p. 339
Classical electrophysiology p. 342
Neuroanatomy imaging technologies p. 347
Optogenetics p. 354
Further reading p. 358
Abbreviations p. 364
Index p. 368