Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are

If you want to learn how the synapses in the brain work, this is an excellent book to read. I particularly liked the in-depth exploration the author did of memory and how it works in the brain. The language is approachable, but the reader does need to take time in reading the text in order to really get the concepts. I personally think that's good, because it really helps you absorb the concepts. Highly recommend to anyone with an interest in how the brain works.

Joseph LeDoux's book Synaptic Self is one of those works that is so dense with material, it may take a second run through to really appreciate it all. Although probably written for a general audience, it is not an easy read. Don't expect to be able to zip right through it in a few days. His descriptions of the central nervous system, how it develops, how it functions, and how it matures, is very detailed. It gets down to the chemistry of the process and into the sub-areas of brain topography in a much more thorough way than many books of this kind tend to do. I have a health care background and started my career as a neurology nurse, and it still took me some time to go through the material. The book is a wonderful compendium of both the history of the research into neuro function and of the more recent discoveries. The author does a splendid job of synthesis for the reader; he presents a very balanced report of what is believed about brain function and the concept of self and of the literature on the topics. He presents theoretical models by himself and others and integrates them into a more coherent whole by pointing out where the likely weaknesses are and where research is still needed. This requires a very thorough knowledge of the recent literature and of the field in general, which requires a great deal of time and dedication to do well. The newest information was of considerable interest to me. It certainly made me realize how far behind I was with respect to what is understood already about brain/mind functioning and about the development of the self. Information on the function of the working memory, especially on why we forget the way we do sometimes, was very intriguing and made considerable sense (p. 175), as did the concept of the "executive" function in decision making (p. 178). What I found most practical was the author's placement of the material in a health care context. The last chapter is devoted to the treatment of depressive and anxiety disorders. Some of the medications that have arisen for the treatment of these problems over the years are familiar to me from my career as a nurse, and it was interesting to understanding the underlying principles of their effect and why they are prescribed. I was especially pleased to see that the author was not "lazy" in dealing with his citations either. He includes not only a list of footnotes for each chapter at the end of the book, citing and explaining his references, but also includes a bibliography of these at the end as well. So many books, often by very competent authors, let their footnote citations serve as their only bib, which means one has to go through every entry to mine for further reading materials. While some of these entries are older ones, mostly those dealing with historical material and early research, most of them are dated 1996 and later. The names listed are virtually a who's who of the neurosciences and experimental psychology. Several

As other people have written very complete reviews already, I just had a few miscellaneous comments I hadn't seen elsewhere, so I thought I would make them here.First, a caveat. Although I'm not a professional neuroscientist, I have a strong background in both psychology and the neurosciences, so I didn't find the book difficult to read. But most people would be advised to try a more popular book on the brain before tackling this one. A couple of other reviewers here also mentioned that.But on to my main comments. This book attempts to explain the self in neurobiological terms. Influenced perhaps by 2400 years of philosophical and psychological speculation on the subject, neuroscience has recently taken on the task of trying to explain it too. Without getting too far into all the technical details, what has become clear from recent research is that consciousness isn't a unitary phenomenon in the classical sense--it results from the coordination and integration of distinct and separate brain areas and mechanisms. Hence, the classical idea--and our normal perception of consciousness as a discrete and unitary entity--is an illusion. And the same goes, as Ledoux shows, for the phenomenon of the self.So far so good. My only problem with this is that consciousness and the sense of self, although they impress us as the most important and immanent aspects of our mental life, may be ultimately unimportant. Although interesting, it is quite possible that they are simply an "epiphenomemon" or side-effect of a brain that is complex and highly evolved enough to contain an internal representation of itself, as if one had programmed a big computer to act like it was self-aware. In other words, although consciousness is nice, it may not be important or necessary to our survival. (And considering all the suffering that consciousnesses and selves are subjected to in this life, perhaps we'd all be better off without them). :-)Although not the main focus of the book, I'd like to say a few things on the subject of biophysical reductionism before I conclude this review. Many people seem loathe to consider themselves just a collection of atoms, molecules, synapses, and nerve cells--perhaps because it doesn't seem to leave much room for the soul. Ask yourself, since the brain consists of over 14,000 major and minor brain areas and nerve pathways, where exactly would the soul be located? In the frontal cortex, with its relation to personality and long-term motivations? In the thalamus, with its function as a sensory relay and termination station (some sensations are processed in the thalamus--such as orgasms)? Or how about the limbic system, with its important functions in more primitive motivations and drives? The main point is that all brain areas have specialized functions. Being "the soul" doesn't seem to be part of the picture.But getting back to the reductionism question, the fact that we can't totally reduce behavior to biology doesn't mean this isn't the case. It

Joseph LeDoux has written an exciting book that captures the current state of research in neuroscience. He makes life easy for the lay reader by thoroughly covering not only his own research and theory but that of most other points of view both contemporary and historical thus helping to place his work in a context that gives the reader the feeling that he is reading something on the cutting edge. He is so thorough that one almost thinks that he gives a little too much time to the philosophical approach but at least he stays away from burying the reader in qualia.In a nut shell, LeDoux makes his argument that Hebbian plasticity is alive and well and that the mechanism for learning and memory is located at the synapses through the action of the neurotransmitters. You almost feel that, by God, he's got it right. The interaction of different neural loci such as the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex are pictured as creating interconnecting networks that craft our responses to the environment, both external and internal. These are all made coherent by wrapping them in the mental trilogy of cognition, emotion and motivation. My only concern is when he mentions the retrieval of stored information and the comparison of present neural information with previously stored experience. This implies that an agent is lurking about conducting these activities. It's the homunculus rearing his ugly head. He also leaves out the interesting research conducted by Benjamin Libet on the disparity between response and the intention to respond. But these are small matters for there is much to fascinate and inform the reader who is fortunate enough to come across this book.LeDoux also provides an interesting chapter on synaptic sickness. This chapter could stand on it's own though it flows elegantly from the previous theory. It gives a cogent explanation for mental illness and the promising approaches to it's treatment at the level of neurotransmitters and synapses.There is much to like in this volume and one hopes that more is on its way.

LeDoux starts his first chapter with a quote from Bart Simpson: "Dad, what is the mind? Is it just a system of impulses or something tangible?" My kind of humor.LeDoux's Synaptic Self is a wonderful book loaded with clear understandable explanations and insights (his wife, a "fantastic writer," assisted) on how the brain works based on the most current neuroscience (e.g., how neurons/synapses/neurotransmitters/neuro modulators work/don't work, implicit/explicit learning/memory mechanism explanations, nature/nurture considerations, the "mental trilogy" of cognition/emotion/motivation, and much more). The book's bottom-line, he writes, is "you are your synapses." With this book, "know thyself," and even fix thyself, seem more attainable. It's a book I'll reread/study for a while. The following are quotes from the last chapter: Life requires many brain functions, functions require systems, and systems are made of synaptically connected neurons. We all have the same brain systems, and the number of neurons in each brain system is more or less the same in each of us as well. However, the particular way those neurons are connected is distinct, and that uniqueness, in short, is what makes us who we are. What is remarkable is that synapses in all of these systems are capable of being modified by experience... Emotion systems [as an example]... are programmed by evolution to respond to some stimuli, so-called innate or unconditioned stimuli, like predators or pain. However, many of the things that elicit emotions in us or motivate us to act in certain ways are not preprogrammed into our brains as part of our species heritage but have to be learned by each of us. Emotion systems learn by association - when an emotionally arousing stimulus is present, other stimuli that are also present acquire emotion-arousing qualities (classical conditioning), and actions that bring you in contact with emotionally desirable stimuli or protect you from harmful or unpleasant ones are learned (instrumental conditioning.) As in all other types of learning, emotional associations are formed by synaptic changes in the brain system involved in processing the stimuli. Some of the brain's plastic emotional processors include systems involved in detecting and responding to danger, finding and consuming food, identifying potential mates and having sex. Because synaptic plasticity occurs in most if not all brain systems, one might be tempted to conclude that the majority of brain systems are memory systems. But [as LeDoux argues in chapter 5], a better way of thinking about this is that the ability to be modified by experience is a characteristic of many brain systems, regardless of their specific function. Brain systems, in other words, were for the most part not designed as storage devices - plasticity is not their main job assignment. They were instead designed to perform particular tasks like processing sounds or sights, detecting food or danger or mates, controlling actions, an