The Cognitive Neurosciences

Each edition of this classic reference has proved to be a benchmark in the developingfield of cognitive neuroscience. The fifth edition of The Cognitive Neurosciencescontinues to chart new directions in the study of the biological underpinnings of complex cognitio-- the relationship between the structural and physiological mechanisms of the nervous system andthe psychological reality of the mind. It offers entirely new material, reflecting recent advancesin the field.

Many of the developments in cognitive neuroscience have been shapedby the introduction of novel tools and methodologies, and a new section is devoted to methods thatpromise to guide the field into the future -- from sophisticated models of causality in brainfunction to the application of network theory to massive data sets. Another new section treatsneuroscience and society, considering some of the moral and political quandaries posed by currentneuroscientific methods.

Other sections describe, among other things, newresearch that draws on developmental imaging to study the changing structure and function of thebrain over the lifespan; progress in establishing increasingly precise models of memory; researchthat confirms the study of emotion and social cognition as a core area in cognitive neuroscience;and new findings that cast doubt on the so-called neural correlates of consciousness.

Michael S. Gazzaniga is Professor of Psychology and Director of the SAGE Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Co-Director of the Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, and President of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute. George R. Mangun is Professor of Psychology and Neurology and Dean of Social Sciences at the University of California, Davis, and Director of the Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience.