Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind (Third Edition) [Hardcover]

Michael S. Gazzaniga (Author), Richard B. Ivry (Author), George R. Mangun (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393927954 | ISBN-13: 978-0393927955 | Publication Date: July 23, 2008 | Edition: Third Edition

Three leading figures in the field of cognitive neuroscience provide an engaging, narrative driven overview of this path-breaking field.

Taking a highly interdisciplinary approach, the authors balance cognitive theory, with neuroscientific and neuropsychological evidence to reveal what we currently know about how the human mind works and to encourage students to think like cognitive neuroscientists. The text has been reorganized to move more seamlessly from micro to macro level topics, and its underlying pedagogy strengthened in order to make it an even more effective teaching tool. Maintaining its commitment to highlight the most cutting-edge trends in the field, the third edition includes the first ever standalone chapter of its kind on social neuroscience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Gazzaniga (Ph.D., California Institute of Technology) is the David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He founded and presides over the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute and is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. He is president of the American Psychological Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science. Professor Gazzaniga’s research focuses on split-brain patients. He has held positions at the University of California, Santa Barbara; New York University; the State University of New York, Stony Brook; Cornell University Medical College; and the University of California, Davis.

Richard B. Ivry, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1986. His research focuses on the relationship of cognition and action, using the many methods of cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Ivry is a senior editor for the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience and serves on the editorial boards of a number of other journals. Among his many honors, Dr. Ivry received the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences in 1997, and was elected a fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2003 and the Association for Psychological Science in 2006.


George R. Mangun, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Neurology and Director of the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego, in 1987, and has taught at Dartmouth Medical School and Duke University. In 1992, with Michael S. Gazzaniga and others, he founded the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. Dr. Mangun serves as a senior editor for the journals the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Research. He uses cognitive neuroscience tools in the study of attention. His honors include the Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award from the Society for Psychophysiological Research in 1993, a Distinguished Scientist Lecturer Award from the American Psychological Association in 1999, and a James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowship Award from the Association for Psychological Science in 2006. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Association of Psychological Science.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 752 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Third Edition edition (July 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393927954
• ISBN-13: 978-0393927955
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Behavioral Sciences > Cognitive Psychology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent narrative-style textbook, May 22, 2009

By 

Egor Ananev (MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind (Third Edition) (Hardcover)

I would recommend this textbook to anyone who is interested in learning cognitive neuroscience. This textbook was recommended to me by a professor. Since this course is not taught at my university, I decided to cover it on my own. And, by far, this is the best textbook I've had on the subject. Reasons:

1) Gazzaniga along with his colleagues is very well-known in cognitive psychology, and is actively pursuing further research in the field, so I was happy to see that the research is up-to-date featuring the frontiers of cognitive neuroscience.

2) The explanations are very clear and narrative-style. That means that the author includes the stories of origin of different ideas within neuroscience, competition between different researchers in a psychological debate, descriptions of where the researchers come from (the feature that I really liked and that no other textbook has), extended examples on the subjects. This is the first textbook I read like a novel.

3) Enormous amount of illustrations, which are also very clear. They include all aspects that are needed to support the text.

4) The textbook covers most of the material that can be covered by some textbooks on biopsychology when it comes to cognitive functions. However, it advances well beyond this level. There are separate chapters on attentions, on hemisphericality, etc. However, since the book contains almost everything you need to know, you don't even have to take biopsych in advance. In fact, it describes synapses in more detail than in both of my biopsych textbooks.

5) The book provides a perfect amount of both cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology. The authors assume that you have already taken cognitive psychology course. However, due to the nature of the topic, it is pretty much impossible to discuss neuroscience without the underlying behavior. Other books strive to achieve the balance between the two, while this textbook has just the right amount of both.

6) The cover picture of the brain makes you want to open the textbook and read.

As for the price - I wish I would buy this textbook earlier not to waste my money on anything else. This is definitely a worthy investment.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best I've Seen So Far, May 6, 2009

By 

Brian S. Foley (South Hamilton, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind (Third Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is thorough and comprehensive. It covers the basics that one needs to know to be familiar with the field as well as more in depth matters. The writing style is informal and a pleasure to read. I would highly recommend this book to students, teachers or experts in the field. Or for people like me who are interested laypersons.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, September 6, 2009

By 

Scott Christensen (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind (Third Edition) (Hardcover)

This is a very good textbook that describes the field, which I haven't seen a definition for, but basically seems to be the connection between our biology and human thought, memory, speech and so on. The book is a full introduction and requires no specialized knowledge.

Neuroscience is probably the most interesting scientific field right now. Even the simplest thought processes of tiny things like worms are not yet understood but the recent giant leap in medical technology is allowing scientists to study smaller and smaller pieces of the puzzle. There are new discoveries coming out every year such as 'mirror neurons' and there will be a lot of big breakthroughs and nobel prizes here in the future. I'm especially interested in how this affects computer science, there a lot of billionaires out there plowing money into research such as at the Redwood Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience and Microsoft Research.