The domain of neuroscience has had one of the most explosive growths in recent decades: within this development there has been a remarkable and renewed interest in the study of the relations between behaviour and the central nervous system. Part of this new attention is connected with the contribution of new technologies (PET, fMRI) permitting more precise mapping of neural structures responsible for cognitive functions and the development of new theoretical models of mental activities.
The diffusion of new pathologies (for example the pattern of cognitive impairment associated with AIDS)...

Neural Plasticity Across the Lifespan reviews the recent scientific developments which are transforming our understanding of the human brain. For many years it was thought that modifications to the structural and functional organization of the brain were limited to a short early period of life, "the critical period," and, in adults, to the memory system. Recent research suggests that on the contrary we should see the human brain as a flexible structure, which adapts and modifies in response to learning, sensory experience, age and disease.

The book provides an...

Neural Plasticity Across the Lifespan reviews the recent scientific developments which are transforming our understanding of the human brain. For many years it was thought that modifications to the structural and functional organization of the brain were limited to a short early period of life, "the critical period," and, in adults, to the memory system. Recent research suggests that on the contrary we should see the human brain as a flexible structure, which adapts and modifies in response to learning, sensory experience, age and disease.

The book provides an...