Books about Thalamus from Amazon.com

This book presents the latest research by leading researchers on different aspects of the organization and function of the basal ganglia and its output nuclei projections to the thalamus. The major diseases associated with dysfunction of the basal ganglia are Parkinson's, Huntington's, dystonia (abnormal fixed posture with spasms), tremor, and drug-induced dyskinesias. Chapters address both basic sciences, such as the physiology and molecular signaling aspects, and clinical applications, such as lesions and stimulation of the thalamic area of the brain. .
Price: $80.38 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This reference presents a new collection of diagrams of the human thalamus, basal ganglia, and adjoining structures for accurate targeting in stereotactic functional neurosurgery. This guide consists of a series of maps in the three stereotactic planes and comparisons between brains with similar and differing intercommissural distances to help specialists pinpoint precise targets, map through anatomic variations, and develop computerized models for stereotactic functional neurosurgery. Paired with a CD that allows for the enlargement and reader-friendly analysis of maps and illustrations found within the text, this source stands as the first atlas of the human thalamus and basal ganglia to focus on combined high stereotactic precision and anatomical resolution..
Price: $213.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Confabulation theory offers the first complete detailed explanation of the mechanism of cognition, i.e., thinking, an essential information processing capability of all enbrained Earth animals (bees, octopi, trout, ravens, humans, et al.). Concentrating on the human case, this book offers an hypothesis for the neuronal implementation of cognition, and explores the mathematics and methods of application of its mechanism. Thinking turns out to be starkly alien in comparison with all known technological approaches to information processing. While probably not yet scientifically testable, confabulation theory seems consistent with the facts of neuroscience. Beyond science, any complete detailed explanation of cognition can be investigated by applying it technologically. Multiple experiments of this nature are described in this book in complete detail. The results suggest that confabulation theory can provide the universal platform for building intelligent machines. In short, this book explains how thinking works and establishes the foundation for building machines that think.

With two DVDs of courseware, this book is suitable both as a text for professional self-study and for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in neuroscience, computational intelligence, cognitive science, linguistics and psychology, the prerequisites being elementary mathematics and neuroscience. Because of the theory’s implications for philosophy, education, medicine, anthropology and social science, this book will also be of interest to scientists in those domains.

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Price: $66.18 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The thalamus plays a critical role in perceptual processing, but many questions remain about what thalamic activities contribute to sensory and motor functions. In this book, two pioneers in research on the thalamus examine the close two-way relationships between thalamus and cerebral cortex and look at the distinctive functions of the links between the thalamus and the rest of the brain. Countering the dominant "corticocentric" approach to understanding the cerebral cortex—which does not recognize that all neocortical areas receive important inputs from the thalamus and send outputs to lower motor centers—S. Murray Sherman and R. W. Guillery argue for a reappraisal of the way we think about the cortex and its interactions with the rest of the brain.

The book defines some of the functional categories critical to understanding thalamic functions, including the distinctions between drivers (pathways that carry messages to the cortex) and modulators (which can change the pattern of transmission) and between first-order and higher-order thalamic relays—the former receiving ascending drivers and the latter receiving cortical drivers. This second edition further develops these distinctions with expanded emphasis throughout the book on the role of the thalamus in cortical function. An important new chapter suggests a structural basis for linking perception and action, supplying supporting evidence for a link often overlooked in current views of perceptual processing..
Price: $42.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]

During sleep, the mammalian brain generates an orderly progression of low frequency oscillations. The nature of these oscillations changes as the brain moves from sleep onset into deep sleep. Although readily measured and recorded, the underlying neural mechanisms involved and the purpose of these oscillations have remained unclear. However, as we learn more about the properties of neurons in the thalamus and cerebral cortex and their interactions, it has become possible to suggest a role for these occurrences.

This book reviews the molecular components and ionic mechanisms underlying sleep oscillations, including their distorsion into epileptic seizures. It reviews the properties of ion channels, synaptic interactions, intrinsic cellular behaviour, and how these elements assemble into oscillating circuits and networks.
The precision experimental data collected has provided a foundation for the study of dynamic activity in the central nervous systems and it is now possible to suggest a role for thalamocortical oscillations in memory consolidation.

Thalamocortical Assemblies is for neuroscientists, neurobiologists, physiologists and other researchers interested in sleep and memory processes.
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Price: $234.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]