Brain Function And Oscillations

Neuroscience is ripe for a paradigm change as Freeman and Mountcastle describe. Brain Oscillations provide an important key to this change. In this book the functional importance of the brain's multiple oscillations is treated with an integrative scope. According to the author, neurophysiology and cognition demand integrative approaches similar to those of Galilei and Newton in physics and of Darwin in biology. Not only the human brain but also lower brains and ganglia of invertebrates are treated with electrophysical methods. Experiments on sensory registration, perception, movement, and cognitive processes related to attention, learning, and memory are described. A synopsis on brain functions leads to a new neuron assemblies doctrine, extending the concept of Sherrington, and new trends in this field. The book will appeal to scientists and graduate students.

by W. J. Freeman These two volumes on "Brain Oscillations" appear at a most opportune time. As the "Decade of the Brain" draws to its close, brain science is coming to terms with its ultimate problem: understanding the mechanisms by which the immense number of neurons in the human brain interact to produce the higher cognitive functions. The ideas, concepts, methods, interpretations and examples, which are presented here in voluminous detail by a world-class authority in electrophysiology, summarize the intellectual equipment that will be required to construct satisfactory solutions to the problem. Neuroscience is ripe for change. The last revolution of ideas took place in the middle of the century now ending, when the field took a sharp turn into a novel direction. During the preceding five decades the prevailing view, carried forward from the 19th century, was that neurons are the carriers of nerve energy, either in chemical or electrical forms (Freeman, 1995). That point of view was enormously productive in terms of coming to understand the chemical basis for synaptic transmission, the electrochemistry of the ac tion potential, the ionic mechanisms of membrane currents and gates, the functional neuroanatomy that underlies the hierarchy of reflexes, and the neural fields and'their resonances that support Gestalt phenomena. No bet ter testimony can be given of the power of the applications of this approach than to point out that it provides the scientific basis for contemporary neu rology, neuropsychiatry, and brain imaging.

Research on brain oscillations and event-related electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related (de-) synchronization (ERD/ERS) in particular became a rapidly growing field in the last decades. A large number of laboratories worldwide are using ERD/ERS to study cognitive and motor brain function and the importance of this tool in neurocognitive research is widely recognized. This book is a summary of the most current research, methods, and applications of the study of event-related dynamics of brain oscillations. Facing the rapid progress in this field, it brings together, on the one side, fundamental questions of the underlying events, which still remain to be clarified and, on the other side, some of the most significant novel findings, which point to the key topics for future research. In particular, the chapters of this volume cover the neurophysiological fundamentals and models (Section I), new methodological approaches (Section II), current ERD research related to cognitive (Section III) and sensorimotor brain function (Section IV), invasive approaches and clinical applications (Section V), and novel developments of EEG-based brain-computer interfaces and neurofeedback (Section IV).

Memory itself is inseparable from all other brain functions and involves distributed dynamic neural processes. A wealth of publications in neuroscience literature report that the concerted action of distributed multiple oscillatory processes (EEG oscillations) play a major role in brain functioning. The analysis of function-related brain oscillatio

Memory itself is inseparable from all other brain functions and involves distributed dynamic neural processes. A wealth of publications in neuroscience literature report that the concerted action of distributed multiple oscillatory processes (EEG oscillations) play a major role in brain functioning. The analysis of function-related brain oscillatio

This book reviews a number of clinical neuropsychiatric conditions in which brain oscillations play an essential role. It discusses how the intrinsic properties of neurons, and the interactions between neurons - mediated by both chemical synapses and by gap junctions - can lead to oscillations in populations of cells.

by W. J. Freeman These two volumes on "Brain Oscillations" appear at a most opportune time. As the "Decade of the Brain" draws to its close, brain science is coming to terms with its ultimate problem: understanding the mechanisms by which the immense number of neurons in the human brain interact to produce the higher cognitive functions. The ideas, concepts, methods, interpretations and examples, which are presented here in voluminous detail by a world-class authority in electrophysiology, summarize the intellectual equipment that will be required to construct satisfactory solutions to the problem. Neuroscience is ripe for change. The last revolution of ideas took place in the middle of the century now ending, when the field took a sharp turn into a novel direction. During the preceding five decades the prevailing view, carried forward from the 19th century, was that neurons are the carriers of nerve energy, either in chemical or electrical forms (Freeman, 1995). That point of view was enormously productive in terms of coming to understand the chemical basis for synaptic transmission, the electrochemistry of the ac tion potential, the ionic mechanisms of membrane currents and gates, the functional neuroanatomy that underlies the hierarchy of reflexes, and the neural fields and'their resonances that support Gestalt phenomena. No bet ter testimony can be given of the power of the applications of this approach than to point out that it provides the scientific basis for contemporary neu rology, neuropsychiatry, and brain imaging.