Thoroughly revised and updated, the Second Edition goes further than the first in integrating material from all fields of neuroscience and in discussing brain-behavior relationships. There are two new chapters, one on development, aging, and plasticity of the nervous system, the other on the general features of sensory receptors.

There is also new material throughout the text on such topics as cortical processing and its imaging, consciousness and sleep, cognitive functions of the cerebellum, the functional organization of the basal forebrain, pain, clinical disturbances of the somatosensory system, color vision, and cerebral lateralization. In addition, the text has been reorganized to improve its clarity in places, including the chapters on the hypothalamus, the peripheral autonomic nervous system, and the cerebral cortex.

About 30 new illustrations have been included, and the book's format has been enlarged and redesigned.