Introduction 1 Part 1: Introducing the Nervous System 5 Chapter 1: A Quick Trip through the Nervous System 7 Chapter 2: All about the Brain and Spinal Cord 23 Chapter 3: Understanding How Neurons Work 51 Part 2: Translating the Internal and External Worlds through Your Senses 69 Chapter 4: Feeling Your Way: The Skin Senses 71 Chapter 5: Looking at Vision 87 Chapter 6: Sounding Off: The Auditory System 109 Chapter 7: Odors and Taste 127 Part 3: Moving Right Along: Motor Systems 143 Chapter 8: Movement Basics 145 Chapter 9: Coordinating Things More: The Spinal Cord and Pathways 159 Chapter 10: Planning and Executing Actions 173 Chapter 11: Unconscious Actions with Big Implications 191 Part 4: Intelligence: The Thinking Brain and Consciousness 211 Chapter 12: Understanding Intelligence, Consciousness, and Emotions 213 Chapter 13: How the Brain Processes Thoughts 239 Chapter 14: The Executive Brain 259 Chapter 15: Learning and Memory 275 Chapter 16: Developing and Modifying Brain Circuits: Plasticity 299 Chapter 17: Neural Dysfunctions, Mental Illness, and Drugs That Affect the Brain 325 Part 5: The Part of Tens 339 Chapter 18: Ten (or So) Crucial Brain Structures 341 Chapter 19: Ten Tricks of Neurons That Make Them Do What They Do 349 Chapter 20: Ten Promising Treatments for the Future 357 Glossary 367 Index 383.