Showing titles in Neuroscience & Neuropsychology

No listener curious about our "little gray cells" will want to pass up Harvard neuroscientist John E. Dowling's brief introduction to the brain. In this up-to-date revision of his 1998 book Creating Mind, Dowling conveys the essence and vitality of the field of neuroscience - examining the progress we've made in understanding how brains work, and shedding light on discoveries having to do with aging, mental illness, and brain health.

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in 21st century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

Was Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci’s brain different from yours? Yes … and no. Like you, Da Vinci had a wide array of interests and constantly found connections between them, even when they seemed obscure. You may already be a problem solver at work, and perhaps admire Da Vinci as a ‘polymath’ and ‘Renaissance Man.’ But you may never have thought you could be like him. Da Vinci was ahead of his time. His notebooks, hundreds of years after his death, influenced modern flight, optometry, and photography. How could you follow in his footsteps?

In The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long present a potentially life-changing proposal: Much of human life has an unconsidered component that explains an array of behaviors previously thought to be unrelated, including why winners cheat, why geniuses often suffer with mental illness, why nearly all diets fail, and more.

In this Audible Original, Ruby Wax hunts down her heroes - brain scientists - in the UK and across America, to learn more about what makes us tick: why we get stressed, how we feel pain, what makes us addicted - and has a lot of fun along the way. She faces death with Past Mortems author Carla Valentine, explores how video games affect our attention with gamification expert Gabe Zichermann, and discovers the benefits of vaginal smearing with Professor Tim Spector.

Stories mould who we are, from our character to our cultural identity. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions, and shape our politics and beliefs. We use them to construct our relationships, to keep order in our law courts, to interpret events in our newspapers and social media. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human.

Joe Dispenza, DC, has spent decades studying the human mind-how it works, how it stores information, and why it perpetuates the same behavioral patterns over and over. In the acclaimed film What the Bleep Do We Know!?, he began to explain how the brain evolves - by learning new skills, developing the ability to concentrate in the midst of chaos, and even healing the body and the psyche. Evolve Your Brain presents this information in depth, while helping you take control of your mind.

Are you a prisoner of your own mind, trapped in endless nights of tossing and turning? Is the fear of another sleepless night a constant, unwelcome companion? Imagine breaking free from the shackles of insomnia, waking up refreshed and rejuvenated each morning.

This book offers therapists an integrated approach to adding a polyvagal foundation to their work with clients. With clear explanations of the organizing principles of Polyvagal theory, this complex theory is translated into clinician and client-friendly language. Using a unique autonomic mapping process designed to effectively track autonomic response patterns, this book presents practical ways to work with clients' experiences of connection.

From Plato to Westworld, these questions have fascinated and befuddled philosophers, artists, and scientists for centuries. In The Forgetting Machine, neuroscientist Rodrigo Quian Quiroga explains how the mechanics of memory illuminates these discussions, with implications for everything from understanding Alzheimer's disease to the technology of Artificial Intelligence.

Our senses form an integral part of our daily experiences, memories and the way in which we view our surroundings. They can both enrich or hinder our life experiences, offering their own interpretation on what we can see, hear, smell, touch or feel. However, what we perceive to be the absolute truth of the world around us is a complex reconstruction, a virtual reality recreated by the machinations of our minds and our nervous systems.

The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology. Leading the charge is psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, whose research overturns the long-standing belief that emotions are automatic, universal, and hardwired in different brain regions. Instead, Barrett shows, we construct each instance of emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture.

If you suffer from unwanted, intrusive, frightening, or even disturbing thoughts, you might worry about what these thoughts mean about you. Thoughts can seem like messages - are they trying to tell you something? But the truth is that they are just thoughts, and don’t necessarily mean anything. Sane and good people have them. If you are someone who is plagued by thoughts you don’t want - thoughts that scare you, or thoughts you can’t tell anyone about - this book may change your life.

A Therapist's Guide to EMDR reviews the theoretical basis for EMDR and presents new information on the neurobiology of trauma. It provides a detailed explanation of the procedural steps along with helpful suggestions and modifications. Areas essential to successful utilization of EMDR are emphasized. These include: case conceptualization; preparation for EMDR trauma processing, including resource development and installation; target development; methods for unblocking blocked processing, including the creative use of interweaves; and session closure.

Feel like you’re stuck in a series of overthinking episodes? Discover how you can flip the script and cancel the chaos! Studies show that 73% of adults aged 25 to 35 years old suffer from chronic overthinking… almost 3 out of 4 people! But, the good news is… there is a way out… With the right tools, you can break free from this mental prison… and don’t let your cynical thoughts tell you otherwise! Start with this handy guide filled with practical advice and information on how to unravel your tangled thoughts to reveal a path paved with peace and purpose.

Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the listener on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were magically given the power of language, would their communities evolve an intelligence as subtly discriminating as ours?

Shedding light on what creative people do, and how they do it, neuroscientists are mapping the regions of the brain that come into play during creative work, showing that creativity is a skill and something that all of us can cultivate. In these 24 compelling lectures, Professor Viskontas takes you on a deep dive into the human creative faculty. Through the many areas of knowledge within the course, Creativity and Your Brain offers empowering and inspiring guidelines for developing your own creativity.

How does the brain work? How different is a human brain from other creatures' brains? Is the human brain still evolving? In this fascinating book, Michael O'Shea provides a non-technical introduction to the main issues and findings in current brain research, and gives a sense of how neuroscience addresses questions about the relationship between the brain and the mind.

An intense conversation, a spat with a partner, or even an obnoxious tweet - these situations aren't life-or-death, yet we often react as if they are. That's because our bodies treat most perceived threats the same way. Yet one approach has proven to be incredibly effective in training our nervous system to stop overreacting: polyvagal theory. In Anchored, expert teacher Deb Dana shares a down-to-earth presentation of polyvagal theory, then brings the science to life with practical, everyday ways to transform your relationship with your body.

What makes you the way you are - and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains.