How Do Brains Work?: Papers of a Comparative Neurophysiologist(Contemporary Neuroscientists)

A Central figure in the development of neuroscience as an integrated, unitaly field, "Ted" Bullock gathers the most infl half-century career in this collection of papers, some of which opened up new areas and new approaches to research on the brain. With this selection of 51 key papers-many of them new or updated-and new introductory essays, Bullock brings togettiei, neurophysiology, zoology, comparative neurology, ethology, and their offshoots, and provides a rationale and perspective for ultimately answering the question he poses to science and himself.. How do brains work?. The broad topical coverage includes: Integration in neurons and higher brain levels; Sensory reception as insight into brain systems; Brain waves and evoked potentials; Neural aspects of zoological evolution; and Neuroethology and the evolution of complexity. Each paper thoughtfully (and emphatically!) underlines an implicit message - our real understanding of how brains work is very limited, and a pnrne goal of neuroscience research should be finding new phenomena and relationships instead of merely allempting global theories, simplistic models, and reductionist analysis. Professional neuroscientists and advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as zoologists, physiologists, and ethologists will find Bullock's perspective on their fields invaluable not only for the wealth of information he firings together in this one volume, but for the practical guidance he provides on new directions in which neuroscience research might profitably move.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Bibliography: Theodore H. Bullock (including only selected abstracts). Bibliography: Associates of T H. Bullock. 1 Goals and Strategies in Brain Research: The Place of Comparative Neurology SECTION I: INTEGRATION IN THE NEURONS. Introduction. 2 Mechanisms of Integration: What Parameters Control Output as Function of Input?. 3 Graded Signals: Is the All-or-None Law Exceptional? Why Spikes?. 4 Codes in the Neurons: How is Information Represented in Brain Tissue?. 5 Reliability and Redundancy of Neurons: Can We Distinguish Probabilistic, Stochastic, and Noisy Processes?. REPRINTS: A Preparation for the Physiological Study of the Unit Synapse [46-2]. Measurement of Imposed Voltage Gradient Adequate to Modulate Neuronal Firing [56-61 with C A. Terzuolo. Intracellular Recording from the Giant Synapse of the Squid [57-4] with Susumu Hagiwara. Diverse Forms of Activity in the Somata of Spontaneous and Integrating Ganglion Cells [57-5] with Carlo A Terzuolo. Neuron Doctrine and Electrophysiology [59-11. Modulation of Activity of One Neuron by Subthreshold Slow Potentials in Another in Lobster Cardiac Ganglion [60-1] with Akira Watanabe. Pacemaker Neurons: Effects of Regularly Spaced Synaptic Input [64-4] with Donald H. Perkel, Joseph H. Schulman George P Moore, and Josi P Segundo. 6 Circuitry and Beyond: How Far Does Connectivity Get Us?. 7 Equivalence Sets: How Many Kinds of Nerve Cells Are There?. SECTION II: TRANSDUCTION AND RECEPTION AS MODELS OF BRAIN MECHANISMS. Introduction. REPRINTS: Physiology of an Infrared Receptor: The Facial Pit of Pit Vipers [52-3] with Raymond B. Cowles. Evidence for a Category of Electroreceptors in the Lateral Line of Gymnotid Fishes [61-4] with S. Hagiwara, K. Kusano, and K. Negishi. Further Amalysis of Sensory Coding in Electroreceptors of Electric Fish [65-5] with Shiko Chichibu. Coding Properties of Two Classes of Afferent Nerve Fibers: High-Frequency Electroreceptors in the Electric Fish, Eigenmannia [73-2] . with Henning Scheich and Robert H. Hamstra, Jr. A.n Essay on the Discovery of Sensory Receptors and the Assignment of Their Functions Together with an Introduction to Electroreceptors [74-21. Lateral Line Research: Prospects and Opportunities. SECTION III: GENERAL SYSTEMS AND HIGHER LEVEL INTEGRATION. Introduction. 8 Recognition: Are There Multiple Mechanisms for Filtering Complex Stimuli?. Expectation: Is Stimulus-Specific Apparent Anticipation a Sign of Higher Function?. REPRINTS: Functional Organization of Receptive Fields of Movement Detecting Neurons in the Frog's Retina [64-3] with O.-J Grusser and U. Grusser-Comehls. Discrimination Among Temporal Patterns of Stimulation in a Computer Model of a Coelenterate Nerve Net [67-2] with Lester G. Fehmi. Neuronal Mechanisms for Object Discrimination in the Weakly Electric Fish Eigenmannia Wrescens [77-6] with Albert S. Feng. The Sensory Functions of the Cerebellum of the Thornback Ray, Platyrhinoidis triseriata [82-9] with Shang-liang Tong.