Introduction: a confluence of streams and a flowering of possibilities -- Session 1. Meditation-based clinical interventions : science, practice, and implementation. How Buddhist meditative practices can inform our understanding of pain and suffering, the potential for healing, the relief of suffering, and the underlying nature of the human mind and body / Ajahn Amaro. Some clinical applications of mindfulness meditation in medicine and psychiatry : the case of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) / Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mind-brain-body interaction and meditation / Richard J. Davidson. Session 1 dialogue -- Session 2. Possible biological substrates of meditation. Synchronization of brain rhythms as a possible mechanism for the unification of distributed mental processes / Wolf Singer. The neurobiology of the adaptive and deleterious features of stress / Robert Sapolsky. Session 2 dialogue -- Session 3. Clinical research 1 : meditation and mental health. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and the prevention of relapse in recurrent depression / Zindel Segal. Paths to recovery : neural substrates of cognitive and mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of depression / Helen Mayberg. Session 3 dialogue -- Interlude preceding session 4. The Buddhist science of human flourishing / Alan Wallace. Interlude dialogue -- Session 4. Clinical research 2 : meditation and physical health. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and cardiovascular disease / David Sheps. Neural-immune interaction / John Sheridan. Session 4 dialogue -- Session 5. Integration and final reflections. Meditation and the future of health care / Ralph Snyderman. Some reflections on the evolution and nature of mind and self and their implications for humanity / Wolf Singer. Session 5 dialogue

Neuroscientists now claim to be able to explain the roots of human personality. In this overview of the grey matter, Rose explores the evolutionary route by which brains progressed, up to today’s complex societies, and ponders the brain’s future.

Biological Foundations of Emotion is a detailed account of the relations between brain structure, functions, and emotions based on the results of experimental work and theoretical modeling. A range of issues are examined, such as whether there are structures, circuits, or biochemical events in the brain that control emotional expressions or experience; the effects of lesions and electrical stimulation on emotions; and the role of genetics in the expression of emotion. Comprised of 16 chapters, this volume begins with a presentation of general models of brain functioning. The first chapter deals with the neural substrate for emotion and cites evidence showing that the conventional concept of a limbic system underlying all emotions is not adequate. The discussion then turns to ethological and evolutionary factors of emotion, with emphasis on neuroendocrine patterns of emotional response; ictal symptoms relating to the nature of affects and their cerebral substrate; the anatomy of emotions; and neural systems involved in emotion in primates. Subsequent chapters present different but overlapping brain models of aggression and examine the role of biochemistry in understanding emotions. This book will be of interest to biologists and psychologists.