This publication is based on presentations at a July 1990 symposium organized by the Institute of Medicine and held in Washington, D.C., to initiate the Decade of the Brain.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts both under the Academy's 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education.

This project was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under contract number 278-90-0006(OD).

This book is printed with soy ink on acid-free recycled stock.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Discovering the brain / Sandra Ackerman for the Institute of Medicine

p. cm.

“Based on presentations at a July 1990 symposium organized by the Institute of Medicine and held in Washington, D.C.”—T.p. verso.

“This project was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under contract number 278-90-0006 (OD)”—T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Brain. 2. Neurology. 3. Neurobiology. 4. United States. Joint Resolution to Designate the Decade Beginning January 1, 1990, as the “Decade of the Brain”—Congresses. I. Institute of Medicine (U.S.) II. National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) III. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Brain. WL 300 A182d 1990]

QP376.A23 1992

612.8'2—dc20

DNLM/DLC

for Library of Congress

92-1231

CIP

No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic procedure, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use, without written permission from the publisher, except for the purpose of official use by the United States government.

The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The image adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicine is based on a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the Staatlichemuseen in Berlin.

Cover: Paul Klee. Senecio (Baldgreis). 1922. Oil on canvas. Collection Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel, Switzerland.