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The brain of each animal shows specific traits that reflect its phylogenetic history and its particular lifestyle. Therefore, comparing brains is not just a mere intellectual exercise, but it helps understanding how the brain allows adaptive behavioural strategies to face an ever-changing world and how this complex organ has evolved during phylogeny, giving rise to complex mental processes in humans and other animals. These questions attracted scientists since the times of Santiago Ramon y Cajal one of the founders of comparative neurobiology. In the last decade, this discipline has undergone a true revolution due to the analysis of expression patterns of morphogenetic genes in embryos of di...
The functional cross-talk and structural interaction between the main and accessory olfactory bulb is a central problem in mammalian sensory neurobiology. The early supposition that volatile substances and pheromones, most of them hydrosoluble molecules, are exclusively sensed and decoded by the main (MOS) and accessory olfactory systems (AOS), respectively, needs to be revised. In fact, a large number of structural and functional evidences accumulated during the last few decades, suggests that rather than separated entities, the MOS and AOS act synergically, bringing about physiological and behavioural responses. The goal of the present Research Topic will be to gather original research studies and revision papers, performed by the most authoritative research groups that have recently contributed to the broad area of sensory neurobiology. Special attention should be given to contributions addressed to the MOB and AOB cross-talk, involving current neuroanatomical techniques.
The present series of papers are meant to provoke discussion on neuroanatomical terminology. After publication of the Terminologia Neuroanatomica (TNA 2017; http://FIPAT.library.dal.ca) and its recent ratification by the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA), August 9 in London (UK), several neuroscientists were invited to give their views on this new official IFAA terminology. This resulted in 12 papers and one commentary on the following topics: (A) Further development of a developmental ontology; (B) Common terminology for cerebral cortex and thalamus; (C) White matter tracts; and (D) Neuron types. The suggestions made to improve the TNA will be considered in the next version of the TNA. Neuroanatomical terminology should remain an actively ongoing endeavor and concerns all using this nomenclature, whether in Latin, English or other languages.
The term “synaptic plasticity” is a broad concept, which is studied with a variety of experimental approaches. One focus is the impact of changes in synaptic, neuronal and glial morphology on brain circuitry and behavior. In this regard, unique animal models have been key to the study of affective and social behaviors and neurological and psychiatric diseases. However, there is a paucity of compilations directed toward the correlation of alterations in synaptic structure with various physiological and behavioral paradigms. This Frontiers Research Topic will, therefore, serve as an exciting forum for the exchange of novel hypotheses and data and an important resource and reference for investigators studying synaptic and brain plasticity, as well as those in related fields.
The Intellective Space explores the nature and limits of thought. It celebrates the poetic virtues of language and the creative imperfections of our animal minds while pleading for a renewal of the humanities that is grounded in a study of the sciences. According to Laurent Dubreuil, we humans both say more than we think and think more than we say. Dubreuil’s particular interest is the intellective space, a space where thought and knowledge are performed and shared. For Dubreuil, the term “cognition” refers to the minimal level of our mental operations. But he suggests that for humans there is an excess of cognition due to our extensive processing necessary for verbal language, brain d...
Scents can carry a lot of important information about the environment, conspecifics and other species. While some of these scents are positively related, as the odor of food, mating partners, or familiar conspecifics, other scents are associated with negative situations and events, e.g. the occurrence of a predator, an aggressive territorial conspecific or spoiled food. The present research topic is focused on such “scents that matter”, i.e., scents that are crucial for the survival of an organism. Since many years, the importance of scents always attracts scientists to investigate how scents affect the behavior of mammals, via which mechanisms scents are perceived and how scents modulat...