Essentials of Cognitive Neuroscience (eBook)

Bradley R. Postle is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught cognitive neuroscience to undergraduates for many years and published over 75 scientific journal articles and chapters on the cognitive neuroscience of memory. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and has previously served in this capacity at the journals NeuroImage and Cortex.

Preface xvi

Acknowledgments xix

Methodology Boxes xxi

Walkthrough of Pedagogical Features xxii

Companion Website xxiv

SECTION I: THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF THINKING 1

1 Introduction and History 4

2 The Brain 22

SECTION II: SENSATION, PERCEPTION, ATTENTION, ANDACTION 51

3 Sensation and Perception of Visual Signals 54

4 Audition and Somatosensation 85

5 The Visual System 120

6 Spatial Cognition and Attention 153

7 Skeletomotor Control 196

8 Oculomotor Control and the Control of Attention 229

SECTION III: MENTAL REPRESENTATION 259

9 Visual Object Recognition and Knowledge 262

10 Neural Bases of Memory 286

11 Declarative Long?]Term Memory 312

12 Semantic Long?]Term Memory 336

13 Short?]Term and Working Memory 360

SECTION IV: HIGH-LEVEL COGNITION 395

14 Cognitive Control 397

15 Decision Making 422

16 Social Behavior 449

17 Emotion 476

18 Language 502

19 Consciousness 531

Glossary 562

Index 571

Postle's Essentials of Cognitive Neuroscience invites thereader to join in the scientific exploration of mind andbrain. The field is presented, not just as a collection offacts, but as an approach to answering enduring questions about howexperience, thought, and behavior arise from activity in thebrain. The student becomes, not just a bystander, but aparticipant in the process of scientific discovery.--JayMcClelland, Director, Center for Mind Brain and Computation,Stanford University

This highly readable textbook provides a concise, easilyaccessible and up-to-date introduction to the field of cognitiveneuroscience.--John-Dylan Haynes, Bernstein Center forComptutational Neuroscience, Charité Berlin, Germany

Cognitive neuroscience is an exceptionally exciting and rapidlyadvancing field in which progress is made through research diverseapproaches in animals as well as humans. Brad Postlearticulates the essential knowledge of this field in a masterfulsynthesis that will guide a new generation of students inappreciating that progress in understanding how the brain generates'thought'.--Howard Eichenbaum, Center for Memory and Brain,Boston University

This is a brilliantly written and beautifully illustrated bookcharting the breadth and depth of cognitive neuroscience from itshistorical roots to the hottest controversies in the field today.If you think you know everything about cognitive neuroscience thenthis book will show you that you're wrong. And if you arejust getting going, then this is the perfect place tostart.--Adrian M. Owen, The University of Western Ontario,Canada