Pictures of the Mind : What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are

“An engaging and compelling read that illustrates how the new brain science can help us understand elements of our basic humanity.” –Zindel Segal, Author of The Mindful Way through Depression and Cameron Wilson Chair in Depression Studies at the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health “Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald has given us a remarkably clear and engaging account of the ways that the new brain imaging technologies can give us deep insights into our gravest maladies. Her conclusion, that healing may often lie with us, joins science with the wisdom of the ages.” –Jonathan D. Moreno, Author of Mind Wars, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, and Professor of Medical Ethics and of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania Who are we? What’s going on inside us when we think, feel, hope, or imagine? Can we change? Can we become happier, smarter, healthier, more altruistic–better? For thousands of years, people have wondered about questions like these. Now, using the latest brain scanning technologies, neuroscientists can watch your brain at work–and they’re amazed by what they’re seeing. Now, you can see it, too. Pictures of the Mind presents the images that are revolutionizing neuroscience and offers you a personal tour of the frontiers of brain research. You’ll discover why scientists are becoming increasingly excited about your brain’s abilities to keep growing, learning, changing, and healing, all through life. You’ll follow cutting-edge researchers as they blaze new trails toward potential cures for everything from depression to dementia and brain injury to addiction. And you’ll preview what could become the greatest scientific revolution of all: the one that finally explains mind, emotion, and consciousness. Neuroscientists once believed your brain was essentially "locked down" by adulthood. No new cells. No major changes. If you grew up depressed, angry, sad, aggressive, or nasty, you'd be that way for life. And, as you grew older, there'd be nowhere to go but down, as disease, age, or injury wiped out precious, irreplaceable brain cells. But over the past five, ten, twenty years, all that's changed. Using fMRI and PET scanning technology, neuroscientists can now look deep inside the human brain and they've discovered that it's amazingly flexible, resilient, and plastic. Pictures of the Mind: What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are shows you what they've discovered and what it means to all of us. Through author Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald's masterfully written narrative and use stunning imagery, you'll watch human brains healing, growing, and adapting to challenges. You'll gain powerful new insights into the interplay between environment and genetics, begin understanding how people can influence their own intellectual abilities and emotional makeup, and understand the latest stunning discoveries about coma and "locked-in" syndrome. You'll learn about the tantalizing discoveries that may lead to cures for traumatic brain injury, stroke, emotional disorders, PTSD, drug addiction, chronic pain, maybe even Alzheimer's. Boleyn-Fitzgerald shows how these discoveries are transforming our very understanding of the "self," from an essentially static entity to one that can learn and change throughout life and even master the art of happiness. Life, death, and the middle ground The good, the bad, and the ugly : powerful emotions and our power to work with them Happiness on the brain Cooling the flame : pictures of addiction, chronic pain, and recovery Landscape Where does morality live, and when is it home? The making and breaking of memories Where am "I"? experiences of self, other, and neither.