Preface
All my life I have wanted to know how things work. When I was a boy I took apart alarm clocks, radios, my mother's sewing machine, and other interesting gadgets, to see what was inside. Much to my parents' relief, I outgrew that habit (or at least got better at putting things back together), but my curiosity is still with me. Since my col- lege days, I have been trying to find out all I can about the workings of the most in- tricate piece of machinery that we know of: the human brain.
The field of neuroscience research is a very busy and productive one today. A large number of scientists are trying to understand the physiology of behavior, using more and more advanced methods, yielding more and more interesting results. Their findings provide me with much to write about. I admire their dedication and hard work, and I thank them for giving me something to say. Without their efforts I could not have written this book.
I wrote the first edition of this book at the request of my colleagues who teach the course, and who wanted a briefer version of Physiology of Behavior with more em- phasis on research related to humans. The first part of this book is concerned with foundations: the history of the field, the structure and functions of neurons, neu- roanatomy, psychopharmacology, and methods of research. The second part is con- cerned with inputs: the sensory systems. The third part deals with what might be called "motivated" behavior: sleep, reproduction, emotion, and ingestion. The fourth part deals with learning and with verbal communication. The final part deals with neurological and mental disorders.
There are some important differences between this book and Physiology of Behav- ior. The text of this book is not simply a shorter and denser version of its predecessor. I kept the illustrative examples, especially those dealing with human disorders, and added explanations of phenomena to be sure that students without much back- ground in biology could understand what I was saying. Although I have simplified some of the detailed explanations I have retained the important principles
