Abstract
Neuroscience encompasses a broad range of questions about how nervous systems are organized, and how they function to generate behavior. These questions can be explored using the analytical tools of genetics, molecular and cell biology, systems anatomy and physiology, behavioral biology, and psychology. The major challenge for a student of neuroscience is to integrate the diverse knowledge derived from these various levels of analysis into a more or less coherent understanding of brain structure and function (one has to qualify this statement because so many questions remain unanswered). Many of the issues that have been explored successfully concern how the principal cells of any nervous system—neurons and glia—perform their basic functions in anatomical, electrophysiological, and molecular terms. The varieties of neurons and supporting glial cells that have been identified are assembled into ensembles called neural circuits, and these circuits are the primary components of neural systems that process specific types of information. Neural systems comprise neurons and circuits in a number of discrete anatomical locations in the brain. These systems subserve one of three general functions. Sensory systems represent information about the state of the organism and its environment, motor systems organize and generate actions; and associational systems link the sensory and motor sides of the nervous system, providing the basis for “higher-order” functions such as perception, attention, cognition, emotions, rational thinking, and other complex brain functions that lie at the core of understanding human beings, their history and their future.
