The Spike (eBook)

An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds

Mark Humphries (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2021
232 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-21351-4 (ISBN)

Infos

The story of a neural impulse and what it reveals about how our brains workWe see the last cookie in the box and think, can I take that? We reach a hand out. In the 2.1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain, billions of neurons communicate with one another, sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions. Neuroscientists call these blips "e;spikes."e; Spikes enable us to do everything: talk, eat, run, see, plan, and decide. In The Spike, Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single, brief reaction. In vivid language, Humphries tells the story of what happens in our brain, what we know about spikes, and what we still have left to understand about them.Drawing on decades of research in neuroscience, Humphries explores how spikes are born, how they are transmitted, and how they lead us to action. He dives into previously unanswered mysteries: Why are most neurons silent? What causes neurons to fire spikes spontaneously, without input from other neurons or the outside world? Why do most spikes fail to reach any destination? Humphries presents a new vision of the brain, one where fundamental computations are carried out by spontaneous spikes that predict what will happen in the world, helping us to perceive, decide, and react quickly enough for our survival.Traversing neuroscience's expansive terrain, The Spike follows a single electrical response to illuminate how our extraordinary brains work.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.3.2021
• Zusatzinfo: 17 b/w illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Allgemeine Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Biopsychologie / Neurowissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Verhaltenstherapie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Humanbiologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Zoologie
• Schlagworte: Action potential • addiction • AI • anatomy • Artificial Intelligence • auditory cortex • axon • Bacteria • basal ganglia • Bipolar neuron • brain • brain as a computer • brain disorders • Brainstem • Calculation • cerebral cortex • chemical synapse • Cognition • Cognitive • Complex cell • Computation • connectome • Connectomics • Consciousness • Copyright • Cortex • Dean Burnett • Decision Making • Decision-Making • Deep Brain Stimulation • Deep learning • DeepMind • Dendrite • Determination • Diffusion • Disease • Edgar Adrian • electricity • electrode • Epilepsy • Excitatory postsynaptic potential • Excitatory synapse • Explanatory Gap • failure rate • functional magnetic resonance imaging • Ganglion • Ganglion cell • Globus pallidus • Google Brain • hallucination • hippocampus • How Emotions Are Made • Human Brain • Huntington's disease • inference • Inhibitory postsynaptic potential • Interneuron • In the Skin • Lisa Feldman Barrett • machine learning • Matthew Cobb • micrometer • microscope • midbrain • model organism • Molecule • Motor Cortex • Motor neuron • motor regions • Neural Coding • Neural Computation • Neural networks • Neural Oscillation • neuroimaging • Neurolaw • Neuromodulation • Neuron • Neuroscience • neuroscientist • obsessive–compulsive disorder • overfitting • parietal lobe • Parkinson's Disease • Potassium • Prediction • predictive brain • prefrontal cortex • Premotor Cortex • primary motor cortex • Princeton University Press • Probability • Processing (Chinese materia medica) • Psychology • Pyramidal cell • Pyramidal tracts • rapid eye movement sleep • retina • rodent • Root Cause • Search Algorithm • seeing • Sense • Sensory cortex • Simple cell • sodium • speed limit • spinal cord • Split-Brain • Stanislas Dehaene • Stimulation • Striatum • Superior colliculus • Symptom • Technology • temporal lobe • Thalamus • The Idea of the Brain • The Idiot Brain • theory • Thought • thought disorder • Timer • tray • Vibration • Vision • Visual cortex
• ISBN-10: 0-691-21351-8 / 0691213518
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-21351-4 / 9780691213514