PDF The Bases of Social Behaviour Download
- Author: Peter Kelvin
- Publisher:
- ISBN:
- Category : Psychology
- Languages : en
- Pages : 362
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Understanding the brain mechanisms which underlie behavior is one of the most challenging tasks of modern biology. The study of these mechanisms can be approached using a variety of biological systems as models, depending essentially on the type of question being asked and the technical approach which is considered. In vertebrates, the study of brain neurochemistry in relation to behavior e,xpression has made tremendous progress during the last two decades. In particular, much at tention has been devoted to the effect of steroid hormones on brain structure and activity in connection with social and mainly reproductive behavior. This book exemplifies some of the major trends in the field. I did not attempt to cover exhaustively all the work that has been done in this area but rather to present a series of selected reviews on the molec ular and cellular brain mechanisms most directly related to social behavior. This selection obviously reflects my own interests but also, I believe, highlights those areas of research in which important progress has been made in recent years. A number of brain biochemical or cellular mechanisms which could be related to behavior, but have not been formally demonstrated to be so, are consequently ignored. The focus here is on social behavior and thus steroid-dependent processes are covered in priority. This choice of course leads us to ignore major trends in brain and behavior research but this is, I hope, clearly reflected in the title of the volume.
The potential for cognitive neuroscience to shed light on social behaviour is increasingly being acknowledged and is set to become an important new approach in the field of psychology. Standing at the vanguard of this development, The Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Behaviour provides a state-of-the-art contribution to a subject still in its infancy. Divided into three parts, the book presents an overview of research into neural substrates of social interactions, the cognitive neuroscience of social cognition and human disorders of social behaviour and cognition.