Neuroscience

From Freepedia

Neuroscience is a field of study which deals with the structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and pathology of the nervous system, divided most generally into the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), and the peripheral nervous system, consisting of the myriad nerve pathways running throughout the body. The study of behavior and learning is also a division of neuroscience.

Neuroscience can be subdivided into several levels of analysis:

• The atomic/molecular level, investigating the ions (such as calcium, sodium, and potassium) that act as neurotransmitters and carriers of electric charge, and the macromolecules (mostly proteins) that make up the cells themselves.

• The cellular, or network level, dealing with individual neurons and nerve cells and their organization into functional groups that allow for higher order perception, association, and population coding, and also the means of communication between them (synapses and connexons).

• The modular, or systems level, exploring how large groups of neurons forming specialized modules (such as the hippocampus, the cerebellum, the prefrontal cortex, et cetera) communicate with one another in massively parallel fashion and organize complex behavior, such as the integration of incoming sensory data with behavioral motor output.

• The cognitive, or psychological level, at which the workings of the entire brain as a whole are analyzed to try to explain how a given electrochemical brain state can give rise to a given perception or experience.

The biological study of the human brain is an interdisciplinary field which involves many levels of study, from the molecular level through the cellular level (individual neurons), the level of relatively small assemblies of neurons like cortical columns, that of larger subsystems like that which subserves visual perception, up to large systems like the cerebral cortex or the cerebellum, and at the highest level the nervous system as a whole.

At this highest level, neuroscientific approaches combine with cognitive science to create cognitive neuroscience, a discipline first populated mostly by cognitive psychologists, currently becoming a dynamic specialty of its own. Some researchers believe that cognitive neuroscience provides a bottom-up approach to understanding the mind and consciousness that is complementary to, or may replace, the top-down approach of psychology.

The concern of neuroscience includes such diverse topics as

Spanish histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal pioneered the field of cellular neuroscience through his research into the microscopic properties of the brain. His discovery that the cortical layers of the brain are composed of millions of individual cells (neurons), and that those cells can become polarized, laid the foundation for the modern understanding of neuronal functioning.

Contents

Fields within neuroscience

There are four main areas of study within neuroscience

  • Molecular and cellular neuroscience - In principle, there is no distinction between cellular and molecular biology of the brain and of any other organ. However, there are so many differences between the nervous system and the rest of the body, both in terms of cellular functions and the goals of the field, that cellular and molecular neuroscience functions as an independent field.
  • Development - This field studies the ways in which the ectodermally-derived nervous system gets organized in the adult animal. Developmental neuroscience uses a variety of animal models including the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster , the zebrafish Danio rerio, Xenopus laevis tadpoles and the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, among others.
  • Cognitive neuroscience and systems neuroscience - These two fields are interested in explaining the link between the mind and the brain. Common methods involve functional imaging, recording of action potentials, and careful analysis of behavior.
  • Neurobiology of disease - This field, directly aligned with medical research, is interested in curing any diseases associated with the nervous system.

"Neuroscience" is a blanket term that refers to all the specific fields that study the nervous system. In some sense psychology is actually a sub-field of neuroscience, although some mind/body theorists argue it goes the other way. "Neurobiology" is often used interchangeably with 'neuroscience,' but may refer specifically to the study of the biology of the nervous system. There is, though, some ambiguity within the neuroscience community as to the difference between the two terms.

Other related and overlapping fields include:

See also

References

Textbooks

  • Bear, M. F. et. al. Eds. (1995). Neuroscience: Exploring The Brain. Baltimore, Maryland, Williams and Wilkins. ISBN 0781739446
  • Kandel, Eric, James Schwartz, and Thomas Jessel. 2000. Principles of Neural Science. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York ISBN 0838577016

Popular works

External links

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