Looking Inside the Disordered Brain

Ahmad R. Hariri is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, where he is also Director of the Laboratory of NeuroGenetics. After completing his B.S. and M.S. in evolutionary biology at the University of Maryland, Dr. Hariri completed his doctorate through the UCLA Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program for Neuroscience with Dr. Susan Bookheimer. He next completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health with Dr. Daniel Weinberger. From 2003-2009, he was first Assistant and then Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2009, Dr. Hariri received the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. He was also named a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters, identifying him as 1 of only 129 investigators whose research is amongst the top 1% most cited in the field of Neuroscience and Behavior.

• Chapter 1. Getting Inside and Getting Around.- Circuit concepts and approach.- BOLD basics.- Neuroanatomical planes and directional terms.- UNIT 1. THE CORTICOLIMBIC CIRCUIT FOR RECOGNITION AND REACTION.- Chapter 2. The Corticolimbic Circuit: Anatomy.- Circuit hub: Amygdala (basolateral complex, central nucleus, and intercalated cell masses).- Interconnected circuitry: thalamus, sensory association cortex, hypothalamus, brainstem, substantia innominata (bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and nucleus basalis of meynert), insula, hippocampal formation, prefrontal cortex.- Basic information flow supporting recognition and reaction.- Chapter 3. The Corticolimbic Circuit: Order.- Fear learning: Conditioning, extinction, recall.- Faces and facial expressions: threat, ambiguity, uncertainty, novelty.- Anxiety.- Chapter 4. The Corticolimbic Circuit: Disorder.- Amygdala hyper/hypoactivity and circuit imbalance.- Exaggerated and dysregulated responses to threat.- Symptoms including depression, mania, anxiety, phobia, aggression, and abnormal social interactions.- UNIT 2. THE CORTICOSTRIATAL CIRCUIT FOR MOTIVATION AND ACTION.- Chapter 5. The Corticostriatal Circuit: Anatomy.- Circuit hub: Ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens).- Interconnected circuitry: thalamus, amygdala, ventral pallidum, dorsal striatum, dorsal pallidum, prefrontal cortex, midbrain (substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area).- Basic information flow supporting motivation and action.- Chapter 6. The Corticostriatal Circuit: Order.- Reward learning: classical and instrumental conditioning.- Goal-directed behavior.- Primary and secondary reinforcers.- Impulsivity.- Chapter 7. The Corticostriatal Circuit: Disorder.- Ventral striatum hyper/hypoactivity and circuit imbalance.- Abnormal and dysregulated motivations and goal-directed behaviors.- Symptoms including anhedonia, mania, hyperactivity, aggression, addiction, body image distortion, overeating.- UNIT 3. THE CORTICOHIPPOCAMPAL CIRCUIT FOR MEMORY AND EXECUTIVE CONTROL.- Chapter 8. The Corticohippocampal Circuit: Anatomy.- Circuit hub: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.- Interconnected circuitry: Hippocampal formation (hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, parahippocampal cortex), neocortical association areas, midbrain.- Basic information flow supporting memory and executive control.- Chapter 9. The Corticohippocampal Circuit: Order.- Long-term memory: The librarian and the library.- Executive control: Working memory, attention and response selection.- Focus and performance.- Chapter 10. The Corticohippocampal Circuit: Disorder.- Hippocampal formation dysfunction: deficits in encoding and recall of long-term memories

Judging by this book, one would expect Ahmad R. Hariri to be an effective and popular teacher. He conveys complex ideas succinctly and clearly in an engagingly informal way, and he integrates old ideas and new information in an approach that is seamless and thought-provoking. Looking Inside the Disordered Brain is an engaging and attractively presented package. The book is highly recommended to students on related courses and well worth a look for those seeking to update their functional neuroanatomy knowledge or to move beyond an introductory understanding of the biological underpinnings of psychopathology." tephen Mullin, PsycCRITIQUES