Neuroscience for Psychologists: An Introduction

Abstract

This textbook is intended to give an introduction to neuroscience for students and researchers with no biomedical background. Primarily written for psychologists, this volume is a digest giving a rapid but solid overview for people who want to inform themselves about the core fields and core concepts in neuroscience but don’t need so many anatomical or biochemical details given in “classical” textbooks for future doctors or biologists. It does not require any previous knowledge in basic science, such as physics or chemistry. On the other hand, it contains chapters that do go beyond the issues dealt with in most neuroscience textbooks: One chapter about mathematical modelling in neuroscience and another about “tools of neuroscience” explaining important methods. The book is divided in two parts. The first part presents core concepts in neuroscience: • Electrical Signals in the Nervous System • Basics of Neuropharmacology • Neurotransmitters The second part presents an overview of the neuroscience fields of special interest for psychology: • Clinical Neuropharmacology • Inputs, Outputs and Multisensory Processing • Neural Plasticity in Humans • Mathematical Modeling in Neuroscience • Subjective Experience and its Neural Basis The last chapter, “Tools of Neuroscience” presents important methodogical approaches in neuroscience with a special focus on brain imaging.