Preface

Every thought, sensation, and movement you have ever made comes down to tiny electrical and chemical signals passing between cells. Neuroscience is the study of how those signals work and how billions of them combine into perception, behavior, and memory. This textbook builds that story from the ground up: one membrane, one neuron, one synapse at a time, and then outward to circuits and whole sensory and motor systems.

Twelve chapters move in three arcs. Chapters 1–5 cover the electrical life of a single neuron: anatomy, the resting potential, passive membrane properties, the action potential, and how signals travel along axons. Chapters 6–9 cover communication between neurons: synaptic transmission, receptors and neuromodulation, synaptic integration and circuits, and the cellular basis of learning and memory. Chapters 10–12 apply those principles to systems: vision, hearing and the chemical senses, and touch, pain, and movement.

Each section explains the core idea in plain language first, then adds the quantitative and mechanistic detail you need to reason about it. Want to go further on any topic? The Additional Resources list points to free university courses and open textbooks for deeper study. This course is general education; it does not replace medical training or clinical advice.