Electric Fields of the Brain: The Neurophysics of EEG, 2nd Edition [Hardcover]

Paul L. Nunez (Author), Ramesh Srinivasan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019505038X | ISBN-13: 978-0195050387 | Publication Date: December 1, 2005 | Edition: 2

Electroencephalography (EEG) is practiced by neurologists, cognitive neuroscientists, and others interested in functional brain imaging. Whether for clinical or experimental purposes, all studies share a common purpose-to relate scalp potentials to the underlying neurophysiology. Electrical potentials on the scalp exhibit spatial and temporal patterns that depend on the nature and location of the sources and the way that currents and fields spread through tissue. Because these dynamic patterns are correlated with behavior and cognition, EEG provides a "window on the mind," correlating physiology and psychology.
This classic and widely acclaimed text, originally published in 1981, filled the large gap between EEG and the physical sciences. It has now been brought completely up to date and will again serve as an invaluable resource for understanding the principles of electric fields in living tissue and for using hard science to study human consciousness and cognition. No comparable volume exists for it is no easy task to explain the problems of EEG in clear language, with mathematics presented mainly in appendices. Among the many topics covered by the Second Edition are micro and meso (intermediate scale) synaptic sources, electrode placement, choice of reference, volume conduction, power and coherence measures, projection of scalp potentials to dura surface, dynamic signatures of conscious experience, neural networks immersed in global fields of synaptic action, and physiological bases for brain source dynamics. The Second Edition is an invaluable resource for neurologists, neuroscientists (especially cognitive neuroscientists), biomedical engineers, and their students and trainees. It will also appeal to physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, psychiatrists, and industrial engineers interested in EEG.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From published reviews of the first edition

"This volume fills an urgent need. It brings together the encephalographer and the physicist and enlightens both. It belongs on the bookshelf of anyone working in the broad and burgeoning field of neuroscience. Reginald G. Bickford is fully justified when he predicts in a brief foreword that the book will become a classic in the field." --Physics Today

"Has considerable value in its presentation of clinical, theoretical, and speculative information regarding electrical potentials developed in the brain and their recording . . . a substantive addition to the library of the physician or scientist . . ." --JAMA

"Unique and important for a number of reasons, the most compelling of which is that for the first time a physicist with much practical experience with EEGs has set out to 'tell the whole EEG story' . . . a fine reference suitable as a textbook for a graduate level course on the EEG in a physiology or engineering department. Clinical neurologists specializing in epilepsy will find chapter six on EEG recording . . . and chapter seven on EEG analysis most valuable. The practical discussion on the choice of a reference electrode . . . is itself worth many times the price of the book." --Alan S. Gevins in Epilepsia

About the Author

Paul L. Nunez is at Tulane University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019505038X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195050387
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 7.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,012,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul L. Nunez is Emeritus Professor at Tulane University and heads a small consulting firm (Cognitive Dissonance, LLC) that engages in brain physics and cognitive science research, mostly with the Cognitive Science Department at the University of California at Irvine. He has authored three technical books: Electric Fields of the Brain: The Neurophysics of EEG, 1981 (2nd edition with Ramesh Srinivasan of UCI, 2006) and Neocortical Dynamics and Human EEG Rhythms, 1995. Professor Nunez holds a Ph.D. in engineering physics and NIH-sponsored postdoctoral training in the neurosciences, both from the University of California at San Diego. Early in his career he held several positions in private industry, working on such disparate projects as spacecraft guidance, plasma instabilities, and controlled fusion.

Nunez's new book addresses both the easy and hard problems of consciousness. Many view human consciousness as one of the following: 1) Nothing but a byproduct of sensory, motor, and memory information processing, essentially saying that the hard problem is just an illusion. 2) Something mystical that lies beyond scientific purview, implying that the hard problem is just too hard for us deal with. 3) Explained by flaky ideas, pseudo quantum mechanics, or appeals to fuzzy theology. By contrast, Professor Nunez's book Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality (2010) aims for a proper balance between knowledge and ignorance. The book is based on hard science but is written for a general audience. It involves ideas from philosophy, religion, ethics, neuroscience, physics, engineering, and cosmology. Personal stories and a little humor aim for an enjoyable read. What do we know, what do we only think we know, and what can we perhaps never know? Does the brain create the mind? Or is Mind already out there. You decide.

Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality (2010) is scheduled to be published in Japanese by Intershift, Inc. in February, 2013.

Professor Nunez has written about 100 scientific journal articles on EEG and related aspects of Complex Systems as well as many sections or chapters of edited books. A few of his more recent works are found in the following books: Brain Computer Interfaces for Communication and Control, 2012 (Wolpaw); Encyclopedia of Behavioral Science, 2012 (Ramachandran); Quantitative EEG Analysis: Methods and Applications, 2009 (Tong and Thakor); Handbook of Brain Connectivity, 2007 (Jirsa and McIntosh); Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science, 2005 (Scott); Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2004 (Adelman and Smith); Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, 2002 (Ramachandran); Analysis of Physiological Brain Functioning, 1999 (Uhl). Nunez was awarded the 2011 Pierre Gloor Award by the American Clinical Neurophysiological Society for his contributions to clinical research.

Author photos: Left, 2009; Middle, 70th birthday celebration, Queenstown, NZ, 2010; Right, Standing in UCSD's EEG lab, 1976.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review by EEG scientist, January 12, 2006

By 

Thomas Ferree (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Electric Fields of the Brain: The Neurophysics of EEG, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

This is an authoritative text on the basic principles of the human electroencephalogram (EEG), containing a wealth of valuable information that would be difficult or impossible to obtain from other sources. It should be of interest to scientists with nearly any background, ranging from physics and engineering to neurobiology and psychology. A remarkable quality of this text is that it is written to serve all these audiences well. Hard-core mathematical readers can be assured that these authors know their physics, and apply it aptly to not only EEG measurement technology, but also to the spatiotemporal dynamics of the cortical sheet. Another prominent quality is its rigorous consideration of the multi-scale nature of cortical anatomy and its dynamics, and a quantitative assessment of what aspects of human brain dynamic processes may be accessible with scalp EEG. In the main text, equations are stated without proof, and always explained intuitively. In this way, the book is quite accessible to non-mathematical readers, who can simply read around the equations and still follow the arguments. Indeed, this text is packed with "take-home messages" that neuroscientists would do well to keep in mind. The appendices provide mathematical derivations that are pivotal to arguments in the main text. By serving all these audiences so well, this text is a valuable resource for those interested in bridging the various subfields of human neuroscience. Insofar as EEG and MEG measure closely related quantities, this text is also essential for MEG researchers.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Book Like It, December 22, 2005

By 

Jack Hart (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Electric Fields of the Brain: The Neurophysics of EEG, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

While the first edition (1981) of this book was widely acclaimed, this second edition is substantially improved. As a clinical neurologist, I appreciate the author's relaxed conversational style when addressing the often subtle connections between physics and neuroscience, reminiscent of Feynman's famous Lectures on Physics. This approach brings together the physicist and neuroscientist and enlightens both. The material covers a broad range from brain waves (EEG) to basic questions on the nature of consciousness. This is a must read for anyone seriously interested in how the brain works.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential for anyone doing EEG, October 10, 2007

By 

Kjell Benson - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Electric Fields of the Brain: The Neurophysics of EEG, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

Although technical enough to not be taken lightly, this book should be read by anyone who wants to really understand what they are measuring with their EEG electrodes. College level physics, electrical engineering and calculus will be required to get much out of the book, and even then the going is slow. However, subjects such as cortical dipoles, temporal filtering and why EEG has a 1/f power spectrum all make more sense to me now.
I use EEG for neurofeedback and other quantitative medical applications. I recommend this book to anyone interested in EEG beyond the technician level. I give it four stars only because much of the mathematics is very technical and difficult.