The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves | 誠品線上

The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves

內容簡介

內容簡介 諾貝爾生理學或醫學獎得主Eric R. Kandel從神經科學的角度探討大腦失序所吐露的人性。 以大腦儲存記憶的基礎研究而榮獲諾貝爾獎的Eric R. Kandel是現代腦科學研究的先鋒之一，他的作品促使我們理解學習與記憶的運作方式，並且打破科學與藝術之間長久的藩籬。 這本重要的新作描繪了Kandel本身與其他傑出的神經科學家們劃時代的研究，引領我們經歷一趟非凡的大腦之旅。他挑戰了我們所面對的最為困難的問題之一，那就是：實質的大腦如何產生心智與自我感受？大腦的860億個神經元透過非常精準的連結得以彼此溝通，偏偏有時候這些連結被阻斷，使我們的心智失序，結果產生自閉、憂鬱、思覺失調、帕金森氏病、成癮性與創傷後壓力症候群等疾病。神經元連結被阻斷使病人受盡折磨，但同時也揭露人類經由大腦所產生的基本經驗與能力 – 也就是人類的天性。自閉症的研究解釋了社會本能的神經學基礎，憂鬱症研究對自我的情緒與完整性提供了重要的省思，成癮性研究的典範轉移使我們對歡愉與意志力之間的關係有了新的理解。 研究腦功能為何受到干擾以及探索可能的治療方式，將加深我們對思想、感覺、行為、記憶與創造力的理解，唯有如此，我們才能回答數百億神經元為何可以產生意識的這個大哉問。 Eric R. Kandel, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his foundational research into memory storage in the brain, is one of the pioneers of modern brain science. His work continues to shape our understanding of how learning and memory work and to break down age-old barriers between the sciences and the arts. In his seminal new book, The Disordered Mind, Kandel draws on a lifetime of pathbreaking research and the work of many other leading neuroscientists to take us on an unusual tour of the brain. He confronts one of the most difficult questions we face: How does our mind, our individual sense of self, emerge from the physical matter of the brain? The brain's 86 billion neurons communicate with one another through very precise connections. But sometimes those connections are disrupted. The brain processes that give rise to our mind can become disordered, resulting in diseases such as autism, depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson's, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. While these disruptions bring great suffering, they can also reveal the mysteries of how the brain produces our most fundamental experiences and capabilities―the very nature of what it means to be human. Studies of autism illuminate the neurological foundations of our social instincts; research into depression offers important insights on emotions and the integrity of the self; and paradigm-shifting work on addiction has led to a new understanding of the relationship between pleasure and willpower. By studying disruptions to typical brain functioning and exploring their potential treatments, we will deepen our understanding of thought, feeling, behavior, memory, and creativity. Only then can we grapple with the big question of how billions of neurons generate consciousness itself.

作者介紹

作者介紹 Eric R. KandelEric R. Kandel is a University Professor and Fred Kavli Professor at Columbia University and a Senior Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies of learning and memory, he is the author of In Search of Memory, a memoir that won a Los Angeles Times Book Prize; The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present, which won the Bruno Kreisky Award in Literature, Austria's highest literary award; and Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures, a book about the New York School of abstract art. He is also the coauthor of Principles of Neural Science, the standard textbook in the field.

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