ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY HUMANIST GALAXY OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS DAVID LINDEN May 19, 2022 ACCIDENTAL MIND: How brain evolution has given us love, memory, dreams, and god by David J. Linden. Belknap Press/Harvard University, 2007 (276 pages) Quote = "The book provides considerable detail about basic neuroscience, which increases its potential usefulness as a classroom text... Chapters introduce key topics in the neuroscience of the mind: sensation, emotion, memory, sex, and dreams." (Paraphrased by webmaster from Choice Review) Quote = "Linden calls the human brain, that "cobbled-together mess!" Based on solid science and fascinating case histories, he explains how the new biology of brain functions answers the big questions: Why are people religious? How do we form memories? What makes sleep so vital to mental health? Which is more important, nature or nurture?; and thereby debunks the prevalent historic myths about brain functions." (Paraphrased by webmaster from Publisher's Weekly Review) BOOK OUTLINE note = Numbers in parentheses refer to pages PROLOGUE — Brain, explained (1-4) 1) THE INELEGANT DESIGN OF THE BRAIN (5-27) 2) BUILDING A BRAIN WITH YESTERDAY'S PARTS (28-49) 3) SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED (50-81) 4) SENSATION AND EMOTION (82- note = The where and what pathways (86-97) note = Diagram (87) 5) LEARNING, MEMORY, AND HUMAN INDIVIDUALITY (107-144) 6) LOVE AND SEX (145-183) 7) SLEEPING AND DREAMING (184-220) 8) THE RELIGIOUS IMPULSE (221-234) 9) THE UNINTELLIGENT DESIGN OF THE BRAIN (235-246) EPILOGUE — That middle thing (267-254) note = A brief excerpt from this section will be added about a known connection between molecules and behavior very soon. FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES (257-263) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (264-266) INDEX (264-276) Accidental design Acetylcholine/neurotransmitter Aggression Amnesia, anterograde Amygdala Animal experiments Anterior cingulate cortex Anxiety, in dreams Association cortex Associative eyelid conditioning Axon hillock Axons Axon terminals Behavioral differences, between men and women Bias: in memory retrieval Birth, and brain development Blending, of sensory information Brain-critical periods in higher cognitive processes Brain design: and evolution Brain function: automatic/subconscious Brain imaging studies: of men during orgasm Brain injury Brain structure: archaic features Brain systems, “always on” Brainstem “Brainwashing” Calcium ions Caudate/putamen Cell body Cell lineage Cell nucleus Cerebellum Cerebral cortex Cerebrospinal fluid Chemical signaling in brain Child-rearing Cortex Cortisol hormone Cultural war, between science and religion DNA Dopamine/neurotransmitter Dream interpretation Dreams: function of Emotion: and amygdala; and dreams; and limbic system; and memory; and pain; and perception Empathy Environmental enrichment Environmental factors: in brain development; in brain wiring; see also Nature vs Nurture debate Enzymes Epigenetic factors: in brain development; and sexual orientation Epilepsy Evolution: of brain design; of brain size; of circadian clock; of dreams and dreaming; and intelligent design; and memory storage; of neurons; and REM sleep; and sensory processing; and sexual behavior Evolutionary biology Experience: and gender identity; molecular/cellular underpinnings of False memories Fear: amygdala and; in dreams Females, and sexual behavior Fight or flight responses Forgetting curve Frontal cortex Fundamentalism, religious Glial cells; radial glia Glutamate/neurotransmitter molecule Glutamate recepter proteins Glycine/neurotransmitter Guidance molecules, in brain development "heat," perception of Higher cognitive processes, brain-critical periods Hippocampus; and tests of memory storage Homeostasis Hormones: circulating; cortisol; estrogen; growth hormone releasing hormone; master; oxytocin; progesterone; secreted by hypothalamus; testosterone; thyroid; and vasopressin Human Genome Project Hydraulic analogy, for electrical signaling Hypothalamus; lateral nucleus; medial preoptic region; suprachiasmatic nucleus [SCN]; ventromedial nucleus Implicit memory, see non-declarity Inhibition, in neuronal signaling Inhibitory synaptic drive, and REM sleep Insula/brain region Intelligence testing Intelligent design, and evolution Intrinsic plasticity Ion channel Inhibitory Postsynamptic Potential [IPSP] Kludge, brain as Language: acquisition of; and mirror neurons Lateral nucleus, of hypothalamus Localization, of brain functions Memory: and brain development Memory consolidation Memory storage Mood regulation, and dreaming Narrative (storytelling) creation, propensity for; and religious thought Nature-nurture debate Neurons Neurosurgery Neurotoxins Neurotransmitter molecules Neurotransmitters; acetylcholine; dopamine; glutamate; glycine; noradrenaline; slow-acting Nondeclarative memory Non-REM sleep Noradrenaline/neurotransmitter Occipital cortex Olfaction, and sexual behavior Optical illusions Orgasm AUTHOR NOTES, SUMMARY, AND BOOK DESCRIPTION SUMMARY = With forays into evolutionary biology, this analysis of mental function answers some of our most common questions about how we've come to be who we are. EDITORIAL BOOK REVIEWS PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY REVIEW = The brain, that "cobbled-together mess," is the subject of this lively mix of solid science and fascinating case histories. Linden, a neuroscientist from Johns Hopkins University, offers "the Reader's Digest version" of how the brain functions, followed quickly by the "real biology," before tackling the big questions: Why are people religious? How do we form memories? What makes sleep so vital to mental health? Which is more important, nature or nurture? Linden tackles these problems head on, debunking myths (people do, in fact, use more than 10 percent of their brains) and offering interesting trivia (Einstein's brain was a bit on the small side) along the way. Anti-evolutionary arguments are answered in a chapter titled "The Unintelligent Design of the Brain," in which Linden proposes that it is the brain's "weird agglomeration of ad hoc solutions" that makes humans unique. The book's greatest strength is Linden's knack for demystifying biology and neuroscience with vivid similes (he calls the brain, weighing two percent of total body weight and using 20 percent of its energy, the "Hummer H2 of the body"). Though packed with textbook-ready data, the book grips readers like a masterful teacher; those with little science experience may be surprised to find themselves interested in --- and even chuckling over --- the migration of neurons along radial glia, and anxious to find out what happens next. – Reed Business Information. CHOICE REVIEW = Many popular neuroscience books emphasize the brain's complexity using terms of purpose: this region is for emotion, that one for vision, and so forth, each interacting in a perfectly designed whole. This ambitious, engaging, and often irreverent book by Linden (Johns Hopkins Univ.) adopts a quite different perspective, instead emphasizing the evolutionary origins of the human brain. Initial chapters offer, in broad strokes, an overview of gross neuroanatomy, functional divisions, and cellular neuroscience. Somewhat surprisingly, the book provides considerable detail about basic neuroscience, which increases its potential usefulness as a classroom text. Lay readers, though, may end up skipping much of this material. The subsequent chapters introduce key topics in the neuroscience of the mind: sensation, emotion, memory, sex, and dreams. Chapters cover these topics in a well-written, enjoyable style. A short chapter speculates on the neural basis of religiosity. The book returns to its thesis at the end with a well-argued discussion of the tension between neuroscience and intelligent design. The emphasis on evolution is laudable --- though not always present in the chapters on specific functions ---making this book an important counterpoint to breathless paeans to brain design. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. S. A. Huettel Duke University REMEMBER ALWAYS: You Are Your Adaptable Memory! Click or Tap Star to: RETURN TO THE HUMANIST HUB OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY produced by Infinite Interactive Ideas®