The biological study of the human brain is an interdisciplinary field which involves many levels of study, from the molecular level through the cellular level (individual neurons), the level of relatively small assemblies of neurons like cortical columns, that of larger subsystems like that which subserves visual perception, up to large systems like the cerebral cortex or the cerebellum, and at the highest level the nervous system as a whole.
At this highest level, neuroscientific approaches combine with cognitive science to create cognitive neuroscience, a discipline first populated mostly by cognitive psychologists, currently becoming a dynamic specialty of its own. Some researchers believe that cognitive neuroscience provides a bottom-up approach to understanding the mind and consciousness that is complementary to, or may replace, the top-down approach of psychology.
The concern of neuroscience includes such diverse topics as
There are four main areas of study within neuroscience
Molecular neuroscience - In principle, there is no distinction between cellular and molecular biology of the brain and of any other organ. However, there are so many differences between the nervous system and the rest of the body, both in terms of cellular functions and the goals of the field, that cellular and molecular neuroscience functions as an independent field.
Development - This field studies the ways in which the ectodermally-derived nervous system gets organized in the adult animal. The primary subjects of investigation are the fruit fly and the zebrafish.
Cognitive neuroscience and systems neuroscience - These two fields are interested in explaining the link between the mind and the brain. Common methods involve functional imaging, recording of action potentials, and careful analysis of behavior.
Neurobiology of disease - This field, directly aligned with medical research, is interested in curing any diseases associated with the nervous system.
NeuroWiki (http://purl.net/net/neurowiki), a wiki website for Neuroscience related topics. All content (unless explicitly proclaimed otherwise) is published to the public domain thus can be relocated to the Wikipedia.
References
Textbooks
Bear, M. F. et. al. Eds. (1995). Neuroscience: Exploring The Brain. Baltimore, Maryland, Williams and Wilkins.
Kandel, Eric, James Schwartz, and Thomas Jessel. 2000. Principles of Neural Science. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York
Popular works
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descarte's Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York, Avon Books.
Andreason, N. C. (2001). Brave New Brain: Conquering Mental Illness in the Age of the Genome. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Gardner, H. (1976). The Shatter Mind: The Person After Brain Damage. New York, Vintage Books.
Goldstein, K. (2000). The Organism. New York, Zone Books.
Luria, A. R. (1997). The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.
Luria, A. R. (1998). The Mind of a Mnemonist: A Little Book About A Vast Memory. New York, Basic Books, Inc.
Some researchers believe that cognitiveneuroscience provides a bottom-up approach to understanding the mind and consciousness that is complementary to, or may replace, the top-down approach of psychology.
Molecular and cellular neuroscience, which integrate neurobiology with neurochemistry with the goal of understanding the cellular and chemical mechanisms of normal and abnormal brain function.
The neuroscience program at Hamilton is operated jointly by the Departments of Psychology and Biology, and students in the program explore the fascinating, rapidly changing intersection of those disciplines â the biological basis of behavior.
Recent senior fellows in neuroscience have studied the neurochemistry of octopamine, patterns of human motion, integration of sensory information by single neurons, evoked potential correlates of cognitive processing, brain mechanisms of reward, and tactile psychophysics.
Neuroscience students have access to lab facilities for scanning and transmission electron microscopes, tissue culture, analytical neurochemistry, molecularbiology, neuroanatomical research, intracellular and extracellular single neuron recording, voltage and patch clamping, eye movement tracking, evoked-potential recording, and tactile psychophysics.
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