I am an undergraduate college student and I chose to read this book to familiarize myself with synaptic plasticity for a course in neuroscience. I found the text very easy to read and understand; it was both informative and entertaining. Overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend that this book would be useful and instructive for anyone wishing or needing to expand a previously existing basic understanding about how brains work. The author gives an impressive overview of `self' that is not exclusively biological, but also philosophical and psychological; I think he tries to come at the problem of defining `self' from all angles, which is not only admirable but also extremely beneficial for the reader.
The first few chapters are devoted to defining first the physiology of the brain that is available thus far and next the "question" or problem which many neuroscientists are working to solve. Neurons, synapses, and brain function is taught to the reader in preparation of more detailed ideas. He offers a unique take on nature vs. nurture that I have never before encountered: influences from the environment pass through the same pathway through which genetic influences are processed. Essentially he is saying that "nature" and "nurture" work together in the brain to develop the being, and neither one nor the other is superior in development. The genes of an individual and the environment surrounding him equally contribute to that individual's ability to learn.
LeDoux not only explains the discoveries and experiments which led up to the modern views of neuroscience, but also describes the basic structure and function of brain parts and how our synapses make us unique individuals within the same species. He provides some historical philosophy followed by more recent psychology on what the self is, how a conscious self exists, and how and why these views have changed over time. I found the results, critiques and reviews of past experiments particularly helpful as an introduction to currently accepted ideas and theories. Additionally, the background biology was a good refresher for me and helped me to recall facts and processes I do not have to think about everyday but that were important when reading the book. He spends time expounding theories on memory and fear conditioning as well. He gives descriptions of what happens at the cellular level in neurons and synapses along with the general area of the brain in which things are taking place.
The next topic in the book is Hebbian plasticity, which is described in sufficient detail at the biochemical level. Again, a fair amount of time is spent explaining experiments that took place several years ago and the information is pieced together in order to present the modern view. Hebbian plasticity is a widely accepted and used model of synaptic plasticity and the book could not be complete without it. The main idea and commonly known key phrase is "cells that fire together, wire together" which assumes that the more repetitions a synapse experiences (the greater the number of times the postsynaptic cell is excited by the presynaptic cells) the stronger the synapse will become and the more engrained the behavior, memory, or information will be. Basically, synapses can be strengthened by the same transmission or activity occurring over and over.
LeDoux continues expanding upon circuits and pathways in the brain, and then moves into problematic brains, mental illnesses, and treatments. As in previous chapters, he provides an historical account of how neuroscientists reached the point where we are today in terms of understanding disorders and diseases of the brain and how and why certain treatments work to overcome these challenges. Like any credible neuroscience text, the peculiar case of H.M. comes up several times throughout the book.
The purpose of the last chapter is to weave together the ideas that synapses encode information and the encoded information makes you who you are. Therefore, you are your synapses. The mind is portrayed by LeDoux as a mental trilogy consisting of cognition, emotion, and motivation; the trilogy should encompass any and all mental functions, so all mental functions can be pared down to synapses. Whether this is the best conclusion possible for our time or an oversimplification of the human mind is undoubtedly debatable. It is probably safe to say, though, his conclusion that all three pieces of the trilogy are necessary for our "normal" self to live will be generally accepted. LeDoux has described how if one part fails (cognition, emotion, or motivation), the other two parts will not be able to compensate and some sort of disorder will arise.
Each chapter begins with a quote followed by an introduction of the material. There are several simple diagrams throughout the book, which helped me visualize processes and remember pathways and interactions. The words alone were generally enough to convey the information LeDoux presents, but the diagrams were so easy to read and understand and significantly added to my enjoyment of the material and the straightforwardness of reading it. Mildly technical language is used since the book is on a rather technical topic; however, it was neither overly technical nor difficult to get through. Since I have general familiarity with the biological terms associated with this topic, I had no trouble with the vocabulary of the book. If I did not have such knowledge beforehand, I think I would find the book challenging and maybe boring.
The author is very conscientious about crediting and citing the work of others, and he does this several times in all the chapters. He also makes a few references to his own lab and the book he wrote before this one, The Emotional Brain. I found there was a nice balance between pure facts, pertinent examples, and experimental data. The book reads more like a science story than a textbook, which adds to the ease of reading. This would be a good book for anyone interested in neuroscience, and a sufficient introduction to brain function, biological brain components, and mental illness. The references and citations verify the book's credibility.
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