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© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The nervous system is specialized for coordinating an animal’s behavioral response to fluctuating internal drives and external stimuli. Its speed depends on the ability of nerve cells to use electrical signals to encode and transmit information, with intelligent behavior emerging from the intricate and adaptive pathways of neuronal communication. While increasing the complexity of these signaling networks can eventually give rise to higher cognitive processes, such as language and abstract reasoning, their fundamental building blocks can be traced back to the earliest forms of life.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.06861-9

Type

Chapter

Book title

The Curated Reference Collection in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology

Publication Date

01/01/2016