Physiology of Behavior, Global Edition, 13th edition
Published by Pearson (January 12, 2022) © 2022
  • Neil R. Carlson
  • Melissa A. Birkett

Title overview

Offer your students an up-to-date, comprehensive, and accessible overview of behavioural neuroscience

For courses in Physiological Psychology and Biopsychology

Physiology of Behavior provides a scholarly yet accessible portrait of the dynamic interaction between biology and behaviour. Authors Neil Carlson and Melissa Birkett drew upon their experience teaching and working with students to create this comprehensive and accessible guide for students of behavioural neuroscience. In addition to the latest research in the field, the 13th edition offers a new chapter on the development of the nervous system that features information about disorders of development, autism spectrum disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Chapter-opening case studies describe the experiences of people whose lives are impacted by an important issue in neuroscience. The authors include additional case studies elsewhere in the body of many chapters.
  • Critical Concepts features in each chapter highlight important topics in neuroscience, and provide opportunities for students to explore them in greater depth.
  • Learning objectives at the beginning of each major section help students identify and understand the key points. The learning objectives are revisited at the end of each section.
  • Thought questions at the end of each section encourage students to think deeply about what they’ve learned.
  • Chapter Review questions enable students to review what they’ve read and test their understanding.

New and updated features of this title

  • NEW: Freshly developed for the 13th Edition, Chapter 15: Disorders of the Developing Nervous System combines information about the development of the nervous system with information about disorders of development, autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.
  • UPDATED: The art throughout the 13th Edition has been updated to improve accessibility, as well as to keep up with the latest findings and studies in the field.
  • UPDATED: Additional headings and subheadings in many chapters, as well as more concise learning objectives, help readers more easily identify main themes and concepts.
  • UPDATED: The 13th Edition has been thoroughly revised to reflect the latest research and the current state of the discipline. Key updates include research on adult neurogenesis, lucid dreaming, and heredity, and coverage of dyspraxia and new treatments for binge eating.

Key features

Features of Revel® for the 13th Edition

The interactive, and mobile learning environment that replaces the traditional printed text and drives student engagement and class participation.
  • Powerful multimedia tools: Revel offers video, audio, image content, and figure animations to support student learning, improve student engagement and encouraging discussion in class.
  • Formative and summative assessments: The self-assessments and quizzes, including a powerful analytics tool, allow you to monitor your students' progress, pinpoint the areas they need to improve.
  • A series of study features: Interactive exercises,mini-sims and flashcards organise your students' learning and ipmrove results.
  • Friendly writing style and accessible approach: Revel helps you organise study material into manageable chunks, enabling students to cover a lot in a short space of time and improve their engagement with the topic.

Discover more about Revel®.

Features of Pearson eText for the 13th Edition

Extend learning beyond the classroom with Pearson eText – an easy-to-use digital textbook.
Optimise study time
  • Find it fast. Enhanced search makes it easy to find a key term or topic to study. Students can also search videos, images, and their own notes.
  • Get organised and get results. Students can customise how they study and add their own notes, bookmarks, and highlights directly in their eText.
  • Study in a flash. Students can use pre-built flashcards or create their own to study how they like.
Meet students where they are
  • Read online or offline. With the mobile app, you and your students can access your eText anytime, even offline.
  • Listen anywhere. Learners can listen to the audio version of their eText for most titles, whether at home or on the go.
  • Watch and learn. Videos and animations within the eText bring tricky concepts to life (available in selected titles).

Find out more about Pearson eText.

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Structure and Functions of Cells of the Nervous System
  3. Structure of the Nervous System
  4. Psychopharmacology and Neurotransmitters
  5. Methods and Strategies of Research
  6. Vision
  7. Audition, the Body Senses, and the Chemical Senses
  8. Control of Movement
  9. Sleep and Biological Rhythms
  10. Reproductive and Parental Behavior
  11. Emotion
  12. Ingestive Behavior
  13. Learning and Memory
  14. Human Communication
  15. Disorders of the Developing Nervous System
  16. Neurological Disorders
  17. Schizophrenia and the Affective Disorders
  18. Stress and Anxiety Disorders
  19. Substance Abuse

Author bios

Neil R. Carlson pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois. He had planned to study nuclear physics, but when he discovered in an Introductory Psychology course that psychology was really a science, he decided that was what he wanted to do. Before changing his major, Carlson talked with several professors and visited their laboratories, and when he saw what physiological psychologists do, he knew that he had found his niche. He stayed on at Illinois and received his Ph.D. Then, after a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa, Carlson came to the University of Massachusetts, where he taught throughout his entire career. He retired from UMass in the fall of 2004, but continues to keep up with developments in the field of behavioral neuroscience and to revise this book.

As an undergraduate psychology major at Cornell University, Melissa A. Birkett discovered courses in biopsychology, behavior, endocrinology, and evolutionary psychology. There, she was introduced to interdisciplinary research incorporating multiple perspectives in the challenging task of understanding behavior. She became interested in learning about behavior and its underlying mechanisms. She worked as an undergraduate research assistant in several laboratories on projects ranging from insect behavior to sleep in undergraduates. Those formative experiences and interactions with several influential research mentors convinced her to pursue a career in research.

Birkett completed her Ph.D. in the Neuroscience and Behavior program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (where Neil Carlson was a faculty member at the time). In 2007, she accepted a faculty position at Northern Arizona University in the Department of Psychological Sciences, and in the fall of 2018 became an assistant professor at Southern Oregon University. Birkett currently conducts research related to the stress response and teaches undergraduate courses in psychology, research methods, statistics, behavioral neuroscience, and psychopharmacology. Each semester, she supervises student researchers and seeks to provide them with the kinds of opportunities she found valuable as a student. Her work has been recognized with awards for both outstanding teaching and teaching innovation, and she has contributed to several publications on best practices in teaching neuroscience.

Loading...Loading...Loading...