The Neuroscience of Everyday Life

Thanks to the exciting new field of neuroscience, we can chart the workings of the brain and the rest of the nervous system in remarkable detail to explain how neurons, synapses, neurotransmitters, and other biological processes produce all the experiences of everyday life. Open your eyes to how neural processes produce the familiar features of human existence with these 36 richly detailed lectures. You'll explore the brain under stress and in love, learning, sleeping, thinking, hallucinating, and just looking around. You'll investigate groundbreaking research in the past few decades is now able to explain such phenomena as memory, willpower, and spirituality. While bringing you up to date on the latest discoveries in the field, Professor Sam Wang of Princeton University debunks persistent myths, including: that we only use 10% of our brains; that Mozart makes babies smarter; and that we lose brain cells as we age. He also sheds light on phenomena including pair bonding and monogamy; what happens when we "get" a joke; the neurological phenomena associated with haunted houses; and how we often act on unconscious information without being aware of it. Professor Wang's insightful and playful approach, which assumes no background in science, makes these lectures a joy for anyone who wants to know how his or her own brain works. This is your chance to explore a discipline that is now going through its golden age, with the advantage that the subject is not some abstract entity. It's you.