The Synaptic Organization of the Brain

Leading neuroscience authorities have joined together in this book to provide state-of-the-art accounts of the neural elements, synaptic connections, basic circuits, physiology, pharmacology, dendritic properties and functional implications of brain structures, A new chapter on the cochlear nucleus describes the neural basis of audition and supplements the analyses of vision in the retina, lateral geniculate and visual cortex, and of olfaction in the olfactory bulb and cortex. Chapters on the spinal cord, cerebellum and basal ganglia provide insight into the neural basis of sensorimotor integration. The material on the hippocampus is a new synthesis of the anatomy and physiology related to learning and memory. New research incorporated through the chapters includes: recent studies of backpropagating impulses and active properties of dendrites; the increasing evidence for specific receptor and channel subunits and their properties; neuronal modeling; and emerging data for the existence of canonical synaptic circuits mediating the information processing underlying behavior and cognition. The book will be essential reading for experimental and computational neuroscientists, neuropharmacologists, and cognitive neuroscientists, as well as undergraduate, graduate, and medical students studying brain organization and brain function.

About the editor
Gordon M. Shepherd, M.D., D. Phil., is Professor of Neuroscience at Yale University School of Medicine. His other books include Neurobiology (3rd ed., 1994) and Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine (1991).