Few fields of science have seen developments as rapid and as fascinating as cognitive neuroscience. It is therefore essential for students of psychology—who are faced with a field of formidable scientific/technical level—to understand and appreciate their range.

Within the framework of neurosciences and cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience addresses the decoding of the cerebral bases of cognitive functioning. It is based on data from experiments carried out on animals, the study of brain-damaged patients, and experiments carried out on humans using methods of brain imaging. It is a recent discipline that is evolving rapidly: the organization and functioning of cerebral neuronal systems underlying cognition remains largely an area that is being discovered and explored. Many of these discoveries are interrelated.

This book is designed to fulfil the growing needs of teachers and students for an introductory textbook. It is largely devoted to the organization of the nervous system, in order to facilitate the understanding of models of cognitive functioning in terms of perception, memory, language and attention. The text also presents the major principles underlying the methods of brain imaging, points out differences of organization between the male and female brains, and ends with an approach to the themes, at present widely studied, of linkage between emotion and cognition.

This book will be of interest to undergraduate students of psychology, as well as postgraduate students of psychology having specific courses in cognitive psychology, clinical psychology and neuropsychology.