Everyone needs to know something about neuroscience. The brain has become a popular topic in all media, but confusions arise when the brain becomes an abstract fantasy in the minds of journalists and product promoters. While it is true that brain is the organ of the mind, our language makes it difficult to speak correctly at different levels of meaning. Neuroscience notes will give the intelligent reader an understanding of how the brain probably works.

Neuroscience is the broad inquiry into the structure and function of animal nervous systems. Nervous systems allow organisms to sense, decide, act and remember. 

In his preface, Dr. Gislason wrote:

I can recall my earliest interest in neuroscience when I was 14 years old. There were several influences that converge and changed me from a student who was mostly interested in physics and chemistry to a budding scientist interested in life and especially in the relationship of brain to mind. I also become aware of Tibetan Buddhism after reading Heinrich Harrier’s book, Seven Years in Tibet.  Later, I met Tibetan Lamas and undertook the study of the Buddhist esoteric view of the mind. 

Neuroscience was not presented discretely in any courses I took in University or Medical School and I pursued the subject on my own. My medical school friend, Rich Austin introduced me to paleontolology and the study of human evolution. He worked with Jim Anderson, a bright and entertaining professor of anatomy at the University of Toronto and a physical anthropologist who knew all about the African discoveries of hominid fossils. I had considered continuing studies in neurology and neurosurgery, but instead left city life after graduation and internship and moved to British Columbia to live close to the ocean, practicing medicine in a rural community. Many years later I undertook an advanced study of the mind and recorded my observations and discoveries.

In this book, I have selected topics that are representative of neuroscience inquiry, retaining brief references to a larger context that includes the study of music, neurology, anthropology, paleontology, philosophy, electronics and computer science. I encourage the reader to join me and continue his or her inquiry into the human mind by reading other books in this series.

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Neuroscience Notes

Table of Contents

Ontogeny, Phylogeny & Pruning

Size and Complexity

Consciousness

Consciousness and the Really Real

Consciousness as a Monitor Image<

More Conscious

The Viewer and the Viewed

Neurophysiology of Consciousness

Unconscious

Subconscious

Attention, Vigilance, Sequencing

Sleep

Dreams

Perception and Cognition

The Mixer in the Brain

Modules and Patches

Neurosurgery<

Neuroanatomy

Four Regions of the Cerebral Hemispheres

Organization of the Brain

Cerebral Cortex

Frontal Lobes

Two Hands, Two Hemispheres

Lips, Mouth, Hands

Movement and Space

Standing, Walking

Sequences and Plans

Mimesis

How Many Senses?

Pleasure and Reward Conditioning

Sound

Music

Vision

Color

Limbic System

Amygdala

Smell

Neurons & Glia

Synapses, Quantum Mechanics

Variation in Brain Construction

Psychotropic Drugs

Brain Dysfunction

Psychedelics

Dangerous Drugs?

Memory

Implicit and Explicit Memory

Working Memory

Medial Temporal Lobe

Visual Memory

Long Term Memory

Memory Consolidation during Sleep

How Reliable is Episodic Memory?

Memory Disorders

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