Our understanding of the human brain has come a long way since the days of out ancestors, but we still lack a complete knowledge of how the mind works. This thought-provoking text travels the paths taken in out quest to decipher the brain and its processes, a quest that continues today.

Are men's and women's brains really different? Why are teenagers impulsive and rebellious? And will it soon be possible to link our brains together via the Cloud? Drawing on the latest neuroscience research, this visual guide makes the hidden workings of the human brain simple to understand. How the Brain Works begins with an introduction to the brain's anatomy, showing you how to tell your motor cortex from your mirror neurons. It moves on to function, explaining how the brain works constantly and unnoticed to regulate heartbeat and breathing, and how it collects information to produce the experiences of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The chapters that follow cover memory and learning, consciousness and personality, and emotions and communication. There's also a guide to the brain's disorders, including physical problems, such as tumours and strokes, and psychological and functional disorders, ranging from autism to schizophrenia. Illustrated with bold graphics and step-by-step artworks, and peppered with bite-sized factoids and question-and-answer features, this is the perfect introduction to the fascinating world of the human brain.

Ever wondered what's going on inside your head? You are your brain. Everything that makes you you, and all your experiences of the world, are somehow conjured up by 1.4 kilograms of grey matter inside your skull. That might seem impossible, but science has advanced so much that we now understand not just its structures and inner workings but also how it can give rise to perception, consciousness, emotions, memories, intelligence, sleep and more. HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS explores the amazing world inside your head. Discover the evolution and anatomy of the brain. Learn how we can peer inside it and watch it at work, and how the latest technology can allow us to control our minds and those of others. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Are men's and women's brains really different? Why are teenagers impulsive and rebellious? And will it soon be possible to link our brains together via the Cloud? Drawing on the latest neuroscience research, this visual guide makes the hidden workings of the human brain simple to understand. How the Brain Works begins with an introduction to the brain's anatomy, showing you how to tell your motor cortex from your mirror neurons. Moving on to function, it explains how the brain works constantly and unnoticed to regulate heartbeat and breathing, and how it collects information to produce the experiences of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The chapters that follow cover memory and learning, consciousness and personality, and emotions and communication. There's also a guide to the brain's disorders, including physical problems, such as tumors and strokes, and psychological and functional disorders, ranging from autism to schizophrenia. Illustrated with bold graphics and step-by-step artworks, and sprinkled with bite-sized factoids and question-and-answer features, this is the perfect introduction to the fascinating world of the human brain.

Discover the hidden electrical world inside your nervous system using DIY, hands-on experiments, for all ages. No MD or PhD required! The workings of the brain are mysterious: What are neural signals? What do they mean? How do our senses really sense? How does our brain control our movements? What happens when we meditate? Techniques to record signals from living brains were once thought to be the realm of advanced university labs . . . but not anymore! This book allows anyone to participate in the discovery of neuroscience through hands-on experiments that record the hidden electrical world beneath our skin and skulls. In How Your Brain Works, neuroscientists Greg Gage and Tim Marzullo offer a practical guide—accessible and useful to readers from middle schoolers to college undergraduates to curious adults—for learning about the brain through hands-on experiments. Armed with some DIY electrodes, readers will get to see what brain activity really looks like through simple neuroscience experiments. Written by two neuroscience researchers who invented open-source techniques to record signals from neurons, muscles, hearts, eyes, and brains, How Your Brain Works includes more than forty-five experiments to gain a deeper understanding of your brain. Using a homemade scientific instrument called a SpikerBox, readers can see how fast neural signals travel by recording electrical signals from an earthworm. Or, turning themselves into subjects, readers can strap on some electrode stickers to detect the nervous system in their own bodies. Each chapter begins by describing some phenomenology of a particular area of neuroscience, then guides readers step-by-step through an experiment, and concludes with a series of open-ended questions to inspire further investigation. Some experiments use invertebrates (such as insects), and the book provides a thoughtful framework for the ethical use of these animals in education. How Your Brain Works offers fascinating reading for students at any level, curious readers, and scientists interested in using electrophysiology in their research or teaching. Example Experiments • How fast do signals travel down a neuron? The brain uses electricity . . . but do neurons communicate as fast as lightning inside our bodies? In this experiment you will make a speed trap for spikes! • Can we really enhance our memories during sleep? Strap on a brainwave-reading sweatband and test the power of cueing up and strengthening memories while you dream away! • Wait, that’s my number! Ever feel that moment of excitement when you see your number displayed while waiting for an opening at the counter? In this experiment, you will peer into your brainwaves to see what happens when the unexpected occurs and how the brain gets your attention. • Using hip hop to talk to the brain. Tired of simply “reading” the electricity from the brain? Would you like to “write” to the nervous system as well? In this experiment you will use a smartphone and hack a headphone cable to see how brain stimulators (used in treating Parkinson’s disease) really work. • How long does it take the brain to decide? Using simple classroom rulers and a clever technique, readers can determine how long it takes the brain to make decisions.

Not just another standard introduction to neuroanatomy, How theBrain Works is an innovative and fun way to learn about thefunction and dysfunction of the central nervous system, asexplained in nine easy-to-understand "lectures." This exciting new addition to the "How it Works" series does awaywith the use of exhaustive details and tedious definitions toprovide an understandable and scientifically sound overview of thehuman brain. This book is neither an outline nor a summary, but aninformal approach to the relationship between physiology andmanifest behavior, including all essential elements covered in mostcourses. Students will find this book to be the perfect introduction totheir neuroscience courses, as well as a quick review for exam.Professionals will enjoy the way in which this complex topic isaddressed in a simple and straightforward manner, and the generalreader will satisfy a basic curiosity about the brain and its rolewithin the central nervous system.

Congratulations! You're the proud owner of the most complex information processing device in the known universe. The human brain comes equipped with all sorts of useful design features, but also many bugs and weaknesses. Problem is you don't get an owner's manual. You have to just plug and play. As a result, most of us never properly understand how our brains work and what they're truly capable of. We fail get the best out of them, ignore some of their most useful features and struggle to overcome their design faults. Featuring witty essays and fascinating 'try this at home' experiments, New Scientist take you on a journey through intelligence, memory, creativity, the unconscious and beyond. From the strange ways to distort what we think of as 'reality' to the brain hacks that can improve memory, The Brain: A User's Guide will help you understand your brain and show you how to use it to its full potential.

The Oscillating Brain explains for the first time how the human brain works. Neural oscillation is a form of repetitive activity which is characteristic of complex systems. The brain has extensive reciprocal connections. Reciprocal connectivity is the basis for neural oscillation. While some patterns of neural oscillation are localized (restricted to specific regions of the brain), others involve reciprocal connections between geographically separate areas of the brain permitting more widespread neural network interaction. Neural network oscillation transforms the brain's three-pound mass of grey matter into a dynamic medium. Conscious experience involves the integrated interaction of both sensory and motor areas of the brain. Our experience of "reality" is the product of brain activity. Reality, as it is constructed by our brain, is an inherently simplified version of the world that enables us to respond rapidly to developing situations in a fashion that promotes survival. Our reality is heavily biased by our emotional reactions. We see the world in terms of good and evil and continually strive for "good" as a means of enhancing our sense of security. However, differences in our experience of good and evil have been a source of human conflict for as long as mankind has been on this planet. Global information networks and our increasing economic interdependence have made these differences increasingly difficult to ignore. Human striving for an absolute level of certainty and security threatens our day-to-day existence. We must learn to recognize the limitations of the human brain.