Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We AreIn 1996 Joseph LeDoux's The Emotional Brain presented a revelatory examination of the biological bases of our emotions and memories. Now, the world-renowned expert on the brain has produced with a groundbreaking work that tells a more profound story: how the little spaces between the neurons—the brain's synapses—are the channels through which we think, act, imagine, feel, and remember. Synapses encode the essence of personality, enabling each of us to function as a distinctive, integrated individual from moment to moment. Exploring the functioning of memory, the synaptic basis of mental illness and drug addiction, and the mechanism of self-awareness, Synaptic Self is a provocative and mind-expanding work that is destined to become a classic. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 13 | |
THE MOST UNACCOUNTABLE OF MACHINERY | 33 |
BUILDING THE BRAIN | 65 |
ADVENTURES IN TIME | 97 |
SMALL CHANGE | 134 |
THE MENTAL TRILOGY | 174 |
THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN REVISITED | 200 |
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accumbens action potential amygdala animals anxiety areas arousal aspects axon behavior benzodiazepines Biol brain regions Brain Res brain systems changes chapter chemical circuits classical conditioning cognitive consciousness convergence cortical cortisol Curr damage Damasio declarative memory dendrites disorders dopamine drugs edited effects electrical emotional example excitatory experience explicit memory fact Fanselow fear conditioning forebrain functions GABA Gazzaniga genes genetic glutamate Goldman-Rakic hippocampus human implicit important inhibition innate inputs interactions involved Kandel kinase lateral learning LeDoux lesions limbic system medial mental mind modulators molecules monoamines motivation motor neocortex nerves Neurobiol neurons Neurosci neuroscientist NMDA receptors nucleus nucleus accumbens occur pathway patients person pocampus postsynaptic postsynaptic cell prefrontal cortex presynaptic processing proteins Psychiat Psychol psychology rats release response role schizophrenia Science sensory serotonin shock specific SSRIs stimulus studies synaptic connections task temporal lobe terminal thalamus theory things tion transmitter University Press visual York