Physiology of Behavior

This review applies to the 6th edition, which I bought as required reading for my undergraduate Physiological Psychology course. Now, in graduate school, I often refer to this text. The CD-ROM that came with the book has been invaluable as a "refresher" in basic neuroanatomy. The book is written in an easy-to-understand manner. I give it four stars instead of five only because I wish that the authors went into more detail about certain key topics, such as neurotransmitters and brain structures.

Being forced to read a textbook at school is one thing, but being asked to read about the brain and its cognitive functions is other. For any one fascinated with the brain, this physiological rollercoaster into the mind is very intense and very in depth. ( At times it may be hard to follow because of the amount of concentration needed to go along with its terminologies). Not recommended as a reference book. It is definately more of a textbook for any medical-school-oriented individual>>>

I am an undergraduate neuroscience major at Univeristy of Massachustts, Amherst, and I had the author of this book , Dr Neil Carlson, as my professor for both the undergrad and grad level of this course. I am now a TA for the course, so I know the book pretty well. It is written in exactly the same style as he lectures. This probably because the book was originally developed from notes he used to hand out, which you can tell when reading the book. He has little personal comments inserted in paragraphs; he writes in the first person; he has strange analogies; he sometimes jumps from subject to subject; but overall, the book is quite good. The best things about the book are the diagrams and the cd. They very clearly illustrate exactly what he's discussing, and make the subject at hand easier for students to understand. As for the breadth of the material covered, it seems to be quite wide. He starts off with the basics, like neuron structure and brain anatomy, but then quickly moves on from there to sleep mechanisms, eating behavior, learning and memory, etc. The concentration of the book is on the effects of hormones on the brain and our behaviors resulting from those effects. I would recommend taking some introductory biology courses before trying to tackle the book; my psych major friend who hasn't had a tougher time with the class. Overall though, the book is not that hard to understand. I've learned a lot from it and not been bored while doing it. It's one of the most popular textbooks for the physiology of behavior out there. My book is dogearred from so much use, and though I have used it for 3 semesters, I still feel like I can glean more information from it!

I have used this text for over 4 years now and have nothing but praises for the manner in which it is written. It covers very difficult material in a reader-friendly manner without downplaying the importance of its contents. As with all texts, while there are some inaccuracies, these do not detract from the overall excellence of the text. In fact, they reflect the vibrant, rapidly changing nature of the field. As Torsten Wiesel said recently, 90% of what we know about the brain has been discovered within this decade, the Decade of the Brain.

Great book for undergraduate students willing to get to understand the way the nervuos systems works and influences all other systems of the body. Very complete explanations are given about the way visual, auditive and reproductive systems work and get related with outcoming stimuli.