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Welcome to your brain : why you lose your car keys but never forget how to drive and other puzzles of everyday life / Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang.

by Aamodt, Sandra.

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Bloomsbury, 2009, c2008.

Neurophysiology.

9781596915237 (pbk.)

1596915234 (pbk.)

xx, 236 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgments -- Quiz: how well do you know your brain? -- Introduction: Your brain: a user's guide -- Pt. 1 Your brain and the world -- Chpt. 1 Can you trust your brain? -- Looking at a photograph is harder than playing chess -- Are we in our right minds? -- Myth: we only use 10 percent of our brains -- Chpt. 2 Gray matter and the silver screen: popular metaphors of how the brain works -- Depictions of brain disorders in the movies -- Head injury and personality -- Can memories be erased? -- Schizophrenia in the movies - "A beautiful mind" -- Chpt. 3 Thinking meat: neurons and synapses -- Your brain uses less power than your refrigerator light -- Loewi's dream of the neurotransmitter -- Is your brain like a computer? -- Chpt. 4 Fascinating rhythms: biological clocks and jet lag -- Practical tip: overcoming jet lag -- Practical tip: frequent jet lag and brain damage -- Speculation: morning people and night people -- Chpt. 5 bring your swim suit: weight regulation -- Calorie restriction and life extension -- practical tip: tricking your brain into helping you lose weight --

Pt. 2 Coming to your senses -- Chpt. 6 Looking out for yourself: vision -- Animal research and "lazy eye" -- The neuron that loved Michael Jordan -- Myth: blind people have better hearing -- Chpt. 7 How to survive a cocktail party: hearing -- Practical tip: how to prevent hearing loss -- Practical tip: improving hearing with artificial ears -- Practical tip: how to hear better on your cell phone in a loud room -- Chpt. 8 Accounting for taste (and smell) -- A seizure of the nose, or sneezing at the sun -- Why mice don't like Diet Coke -- Chpt. 9 Touching all the bases: your skin's senses -- Why can't you tickle yourself? -- Practical tip: does acupuncture work? -- Practical tip: referred pain -- Pt. 3 How your brain changes throughout life -- Chpt. 10 Growing great brains: early childhood -- Myth: listening to Mozart makes babies smarter -- Early life stress and adult vulnerability -- Chpt. 11 Growing up: sensitive periods and language -- Is language innate? -- Is music like a language? -- Chpt. 12 Rebels and their causes: childhood and adolescence -- Practical tip: improving your brain with video games -- Brain growth and intelligence -- Chpt. 13 An educational tour: learning -- Practical tip: should you cram for an exam? -- Why are some things easier to learn than others -- Practical tip: put it out of your mind -- Chpt. 14 Reaching the top of the mountain: aging -- Practical tip: how can you protect your brain as you get older? -- I'm losing my memory. Do I have Alzheimer's disease? -- Are you born with all the neurons you'll ever have? -- Chpt. 15 Is the brain still evolving? -- Understanding nature versus nurture -- Machiavellian intelligence - a brain arms race? --

Pt. 4 Your emotional brain -- Chpt. 16 The weather in your brain: emotions -- Emotions and memory -- How does your brain know a joke is funny? -- Chpt. 17 Did I pack everything? Anxiety -- Myth: the car-crash effect -- Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Practical tip: how to treat a phobia -- Chpt. 18 Happiness and how we find it -- Happiness around the world -- How scientists measure happiness -- Practical tip: how to increase your happiness -- Chpt. 19 What's it like in there? Personality -- Domesticating the brain -- Chpt. 20 Sex, love, and pair-bonding -- Studying flirtation -- Imaging orgasm -- Practical tip: men learn to be gay -- Pt. 5 Your rational brain -- Chpt. 21 One lump or two: how you make decisions -- Practical tip: maximizers and satisficers -- Practical tip: can willpower be trained? -- Chpt. 22 Intelligence (and the lack of it) -- Practical tip: how expectations influence test performance -- Great brains in small packages -- Myth: brain folding is a sign of intelligence -- Chpt. 23 Vacation snapshots: memory -- Forgetting your keys but remembering how to drive -- Myth: recovered memory -- Practical tip: Can't get it our of my head --

Chpt. 24 Rationality without reason: autism -- Monkey see, monkey do: mirror neurons -- Myth: vaccines cause autism -- Chpt. 25 A brief detour to Mars and Venus: cognitive gender differences -- Myth: women are moodier than men -- Males are more variable than females -- Quiz: how to think like a man -- Pt. 6 Your brain in altered states -- Chpt. 26 Do you mind? Studying consciousness -- The Dalai Lama, enlightenment, and brain surgery -- Can brain scanners read your mind? -- My brain made me do it: neuroscience and the law -- Chpt. 27 In your dreams: the neuroscience of sleep -- Wake up little Susie: narcolepsy and modafinil -- Why are yawns contagious? -- Chpt. 28 A pilgrimage: spirituality -- Meditation and the brain -- The neuroscience of visions -- Chpt. 29 Forgetting birthdays: stroke -- Practical tip: warning signs of stroke - and what to do -- Chpt. 30 A long, strange trip: drugs and alcohol -- Ecstasy and Prozac -- Does marijuana cause lung cancer? -- Hit me again: addiction and the brain -- Practical tip: drinking and pregnancy -- Chpt. 31 How deep is your brain? Therapies that stimulate the brain's core -- Interfaces between brains and machines -- Afterword Myths and facts about brain training -- Practical tip: evaluating marketing claims for medical treatments -- References and further reading -- Index.

"We use our brains at practically every moment of our lives, and yet few of us have the first idea how they work. Much of what we think we know comes from folklore: that we only use 10 percent of our brain, or that drinking kills brain cells. These and other myths are wrong, as shown by neuroscientists who have spent decades studying this complex organ. However, most of what they have learned is not known to the world outside their laboratories. Here, the authors dispel common myths about the brain and provide a comprehensive, useful overview of how it really works. You'll discover how to cope with jet lag, how your brain affects your religion, and how men's and women's brains differ. With accessible prose decorated by charts, trivia, quizzes, and illustrations, this book is suitable for quick reference or extended reading."--From publisher.

Wang, Sam, 1967-

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