Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become who We areRanging widely through philosophy, literature, and the history of science, LeDoux examines how we have conceptualized the relationship between brain and self through the centuries. His own contribution, based on two decades of research, begins with the startlingly simple premise that the self-the essence of who a person is-intricately reflects patterns of interconnectivity between neurons in the brain. Synapses, the spaces between neurons, are not only the channels through which we think, act, imagine, feel, and remember, but also the means by which we encode our most fundamental traits, preferences, and beliefs, allowing us to function as a single, integrated individual-a synaptic self. As LeDoux brilliantly argues, a synaptic self does not exclude other ways of understanding existence-spiritual, aesthetic, moral-but rather it enriches and broadens these avenues by providing a neurological/psychological construct grounded in the latest research in biology. Rather than join the age-old debate on whether nature or nurture is more determinative, LeDoux posits that both genes and experience contribute to synaptic connectivity. Mind expanding in every sense of the word, Synaptic Selfrepresents an important breakthrough in one of the last frontiers of medical research. |
Contents
THE BIG ONE | 1 |
SEEKING THE SELF | 13 |
THE MOST UNACCOUNTABLE OF MACHINERY | 33 |
Copyright | |
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ability accumbens action potential altered amygdala animals anxiety areas arousal aspects axon behavior benzodiazepines brain regions brain stem brain systems cell body changes chapter chemical circuits classical conditioning cognitive consciousness cortical cortisol damage Damasio declarative memory dendrites depression disorders dopamine drugs effects electrical elicited emotional example excitatory experience explicit memory fact fear conditioning forebrain GABA Gazzaniga genes genetic glutamate Hebbian plasticity hippocampus hormones human implicit important inhibition innate inputs interactions involved Kandel kinase kinds lateral amygdala learning LeDoux lesions limbic system medial mental mind modulators molecules monoamines motivation motor neocortex nerves neural activity neurons neuroscience neuroscientists NMDA receptors nucleus nucleus accumbens occur output pathway patients person pocampus postsynaptic cell prefrontal cortex processing proteins psychology rats release response result role schizophrenia serotonin shock specific SSRIs stimulus studies synaptic connections synaptic transmission task temporal lobe thalamus theory therapy things tion transmitter underlying visual