The Neural Basis of Behavior

The Symposium on the Neural Basis of Behavior, from which this volume was produced, was held at the Alfred I. duPont Institute on June 7 and 8, 1979. It brought outstanding investigators in four fundamental areas of behavioral neurobiology into juxtaposition, there to provide an integrated, multidisciplinary perspective on behaviorally significant brain mechanisms. Particular emphasis was placed on topics of interest to neurobiologists as well as to clinicians in neurological and psychiatric disciplines. The session on central activity states was selected as an appropriate point of departure because the continuum of brain activity states extending from the natural depression of hibernation through the heightened levels of arousal accom­ panying learning is such a clear and basic determinant of behavioral output. The papers on learning and memory outlined diverse approaches to un­ derstanding the basis of these interrelat~d CNS capabilities that constitute the neural basis of behavioral adaptation. Finally, the topics of affective states and mechanisms of pain provided a focus of clinically relevant discus­ sion covering multiple levels of functional and anatomical CNS organiza­ tion. The success of the symposium bore testimony to the excellence of the presentations and to the symbiosis of their content; both are preserved herein. The support and encouragement of Dr. G. Dean MacEwen, Medical Director of the Alfred I. duPont Institute, is gratefully acknowl­ edged. Alexander L. Beckman Wilmington, July 1979 The Neural Basis of Behavior PART I Central Activity States Copyright © 1982, Spectrum Publications, Inc.