About the Book
An all-star lineup of brain scientists reveal what the public needs to know States of Mind is a wonderfully accessible introduction to the most important recent findings about how our health, behavior, feelings, and identities are influenced by what goes on inside our brains. The book covers the sources of depression and how it can be treated; the effects of stress on our brains and general health; how memory works and the phenomenon of false memory; why we dream and the role dreams play in our lives; how genes and life experience combine to shape our personalities and temperaments; and more. * Kay Redfield Jamison, bestselling author of An Unquiet Mind, on depression * J.
Allan Hobson, author of the groundbreaking The Dreaming Brain, on dreams * Steven Hyman, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, on genes and environment * Jerome Kagan, director of Harvard's Mind-Brain Behavior Initiative, on temperament * Eric Kandel, director of Columbia's Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, on memory * Joseph LeDoux, author of the acclaimed The Emotional Brain, on emotions * Bruce McEwen, director of the Neuroendocrinology Laboratory at Rockefeller University, on stress * Esther Sternberg, head of Immunology and Behavior at the Naitonal Institute of Mental Health, on the brain and disease From the Smithsonian Associates/Dana Alliance for the Brain Initiatives Series
Table of Contents:
Susceptibility and "Second Hits" (S. Hyman). Born to Be Shy? (J. Kagan). A Magical Orange Grove in a Nightmare: Creativity and Mood Disorders (K. Jamison). Stress and the Brain (B. McEwen). Emotions and Disease: A Balance of Molecules (E. Sternberg). The Power of Emotions (J. LeDoux). Of Learning, Memory, and Genetic Switches (E. Kandel). Order from Chaos (J. Hobson). Notes. Index.
About the Author :
J. ALLAN HOBSON, author of the groundbreaking The Dreaming Brain, leads us on a tour of dream states, the reasons we dream, and what dream studies reveal about our minds. STEVEN HYMAN, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, traces the links between nature and nurture, particularly in addiction and mental illness, to explain the relationship between inherited tendencies and the impact of life experience. KAY REDFIELD JAMISON, bestselling author of An Unquiet Mind, explains manic depression, its prevalence among gifted artists, writers, and musicians, and the societal questions raised by trying to eradicate the "depression gene." JEROME KAGAN, director of Harvard's Mind--Brain--Behavior Initiative, presents the latest findings on how a child's environment and inborn biology combine to shape and reshape personality and temperament. ERIC KANDEL, director of Columbia's Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, takes us along the chain of biological events that create long--term memories, revealing how we stand at the brink of helping those who suffer from grave mental and memory disorders. JOSEPH LEDOUX, author of the acclaimed The Emotional Brain, guides us through the pathways of emotion and describes his pioneering work in the biology of the emotion of fear. BRUCE MCEWEN, director of the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University, reports on the growing problem of stress and reveals the damage it can inflict on both biological health and cognitive abilities, such as memory. ESTHER STERNBERG, chief of the section on neuroendocrine immunology and behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health, shares her findings in the study of the brain and disease, demonstrating the substances at work in the nervous and immune systems and the reaction of these systems to strong emotions. States of Mind enables you to share in the thrill and wonder of the very latest explorations into the nature and function of the human mind. ROBERTA CONLAN is a regular contributor to the publications of the National Academy of Sciences.
Review :
From Publishers Weekly Eight crisply written reports about groundbreaking advances in brain research form this accessible tome based on a lecture series. Joseph LeDoux, NYU brain scientist, describes his exciting investigations into the human brain's ""fear system"" for detecting and responding to danger. The workings of this quick-response system, which bypasses the higher, ""thinking"" parts of the brain, provide a neurological basis for Freud's theory of the unconscious, he asserts. At the opposite pole, Harvard psychiatry professor J. Allan Hobson argues that while dreams consolidate memories and learning, their strange images are merely incidental physiological by-products, rather than symbols fraught with emotional meaning. Noting the prevalence of manic-depressive illness and depression among renowned artists, writers and composers, Johns Hopkins psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison suggests that the genes predisposing an individual to these disorders might also confer a proclivity for creativity. Attempts to get rid of or to mute these genes pose a dilemma for society, she declares, since they may constitute one source of artistic genius. Bruce McEwen of Rockefeller University reports that chronic stress not only exacerbates a host of illnesses but also damages the hippocampus, a brain structure involved with memory, and Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan explains why he believes our individual brain chemistries at birth predispose us to be outgoing or shy, bold or fearful. Based on a 1997 lecture series co-sponsored by Smithsonian Associates and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, an organization of U.S. brain researchers, the volume is enhanced by chapter headnotes and illustrations ranging from a medieval medical woodcut to modern brain scans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
