Brain Architecture Understanding the Basic Plan

by Swanson, Larry W.

• ISBN13: 9780195105056
• ISBN10: 0195105052
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-31
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970's The importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan brain have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter. The book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way.

Table of Contents

How the Brain Works: Structure and Function	p. 1
Three Biological Perspectives	p. 3
The Simplest Nervous Systems: Neurons, Nerve Nets, and Behavior	p. 9
Unicellular Organisms: Behaviors Essential for Survival	p. 11
Animals without Neurons: Independent Effectors	p. 14
The First Nervous System: Hydra's Body and Behavior	p. 16
Sensory Neurons: Functional Polarity of Dendrites and Axon	p. 17
Motoneurons: Another Distinct Neuronal Type	p. 20
Nerve Nets: Amacrine Processes and Activity Patterns	p. 22
Interneurons: Sign Switchers and Pattern Generators	p. 24
Overview: Evolution of Architecture, Not Building Blocks	p. 26
Centralization and Symmetry: Ganglia and Nerves	p. 29
Flatworms: Bilaterally Symmetrical Predators	p. 29
Segmented Worms: Internal Ventral Nerve Cord	p. 34
More Evolved Invertebrates	p. 36
Overview: Polarity, Regionalization, Bilateral Symmetry, Segments	p. 37
The Basic Vertebrate Plan: Nervous System Topology	p. 40
Embryological Perspectives	p. 44
Earliest Stages of Mammalian Development	p. 48
Neural Plate: Brain and Spinal Cord	p. 51
Neural Tube: Transverse Brain Divisions	p. 53
Neural Crest and Placodes: Peripheral Nervous System	p. 57
Generating Neuronal Cell Types and Groups: Longitudinal Brain Divisions	p. 60
A Nervous System Fate Map	p. 68
Overview: Parts of the Nervous System	p. 76
Brain and Behavior: A Four Systems Network Model	p. 80
Reflex and Voluntary Control of Behavior	p. 86
Behavioral State Control	p. 89
Feedback	p. 90
Topography versus Systems	p. 92
Overview: Defining Each System	p. 95
The Motor System: Coordinating External and Internal Behaviors	p. 97
Motoneuron Classes	p. 98
Introduction to the Somatomotor System: Flexion	p. 102
Distribution of Somatomotor Neuron Pools	p. 104
Central Pattern Generators: Sets of Motoneuron Pools	p. 109
Pattern Initiators and Controllers: Drive and Motivation	p. 117
The Autonomic Motor System	p. 122
The Neuroendocrine Motor System	p. 126
The Cerebellum: Motor Coordination and Learning	p. 131
Overview: Integration within and between Motor Systems	p. 134
The Behavioral State System: Intrinsic Control of Sleep and Wakefulness	p. 139
Circadian Rhythms: The Day-Night Cycle	p. 142
Reproductive Cycles	p. 145
Sleep-Wake Cycles	p. 148
Modulating Behavioral State	p. 149
The Cognitive System: Thinking and Voluntary Control of Behavior	p. 156
Cerebral Cortex Regionalization	p. 158
Cortical Cellular Organization	p. 166
Cortical Projections	p. 172
The Cerebral Nuclei	p. 172
Triple Descending Projection from Cerebrum	p. 175
The Sensory System: Inputs from the Environment and the Body	p. 182
Evolution and Development of Sensory Neurons	p. 184
Overview of Sensory Neurons	p. 187
Overview of Sensory Pathways	p. 191
Forebrain Sensory Systems: Olfactory, Visual, Humoral, and Osmotic	p. 193
Ganglion Cell Sensory Systems: Submodalities	p. 198
Affect: Pain and Pleasure, Emotion, and Mood	p. 201
Modifiability: Learning, Stress, Cycles, and Damage Repair	p. 206
Learning: Changing Synaptic Strength	p. 207
Stress: Biochemical Switching	p. 210
Cycles: Circadian and Reproductive	p. 215
Damage Repair: Regrowth	p. 217
Gene Networks: Relationship to Neural Networks	p. 219
Appendices	p. 223
Describing Position in the Animal Body	p. 223
Naming and Classifying Nervous System Parts	p. 229
Methods for Analyzing Brain Architecture	p. 235
Glossary	p. 243
Index	p. 247
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