quantum

Author: Carter, Rita
Isbn 13: 9780520224612
ISBN: 0520224612
Pub Date: Feb 1, 2000
Publisher: U CAL
Shipping Weight: 1.85 pounds
Status: In stock ships within 1 day

List Price: $25.95
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Drawing on the latest imaging technology and the expertise of distinguished scientists, the author explores the geography of the human brain. Her writing is clear, accessible, and witty, and the book contains 150 illustrations, most in color. The book charts the way human behavior and culture have been molded by the landscape of the brain. The author shows how our personalities reflect the biological mechanisms underlying thought and emotion and how behavioral eccentricities may be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. Obsessions and compulsions seem to be caused by a stuck neural switch in a region that monitors the environment for danger. Addictions stem from dysfunction in the brain's reward system. Even the sense of religious experience has been linked to activity in a certain brain region. The differences between men and women's brains, the question of a gay brain, and conditions such as dyslexia, autism, and mania are also explored. Looking inside the brain, writes the author, we see that actions follow from our perceptions, which are due to brain activity dictated by a neuronal structure formed from the interplay between our genes and the environment. Without sidestepping the question of free will, the author suggests that future generations will use our increasing knowledge of the brain to enhance those mental qualities that give sweetness and meaning to our lives, and to eradicate those that are destructive.
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