000			03065nam a2200289Ia 4500
001			291813
003			0000000000
005			20211104073232.0
008			740130s1973 nyua b 001 0 eng
020			_a9781848724297
040			_aAEA _cAEA _erda
050			_aQP 431 _b.Ut8 2014
100			_aUttal, William R., _9122058
245		4	_aThe psychobiology of sensory coding _cWilliam R. Uttal.
264			_aChurch Road, Hove ;;New York, NY : _bPsychology Press, _c2014
300			_axvi, 679 pages : _billustrations _c24 cm.
336			_atext _2rdacontent
338			_avolume _2rdacarrier
500			_aFirst published in New York by Harper & Row Publisher, 1973.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aFormat: Hardcover This was a landmark book for its time. It requires an undergrad course or similar background in general psychobiology. Focusing primarily on sensory systems, this book will give you a more rigorous understanding of neural mechanisms, including such concepts as receptor physiology and receptor transduction, receptor types and categories, basic coding principles such as lateral inhibition and sharpening mechanisms in general, convergence and divergence in neural systems, spatial vs. frequency coding, spatial vs. temporal coding, center/surround mechanisms, threshold mechanisms, frequency vs. bandwidth, and many other important topics. Uttall's approach was an important precursor to David Marr's computational approach. In fact, I recommend reading Marr's book on vision after this one if your interest is vision. (I discuss this further below). The chapter on somatosensation was especially important since most students emphasize vision because it seems more interesting and glamorous. Uttal makes clear the difference between specific and more general principles of encoding. For example, he discusses the many interesting similarities between audition and somatosensation since both systems deal with pressure and mechanical displacement oriented mechanisms. This is a book that should be read by every intermediate student of the brain sciences. It would also be a good book for the layman with the necessary background whose only experience with psychobiology is these popular books on the theory of consciousness. The problem with those books isn't so much that they're bad science books, it's that you're starting with this abstract, high level theory without having a good background in the underlying brain mechanisms. That sort of top-down approach is fine for the reader with the requisite background, but for most readers gives a distorted picture of how the brain really works because the brain itself does not work in such a top-down fashion but really works from the bottom up, combining and cascading outputs to build more complex and sophisticated processes.
650			_aNeural transmission. _9122059
650			_aPsychobiology. _919667
650			_aSenses and sensation. _98286
942			_cREF
999			_c86650 _d86650