Providing an overview of current ideas about the brain, this book includes current physiological and anatomical understanding as well as cognitive and behavioural understanding. Starting with an account of neural activity, physiology and brain anatomy, discussions of structural organization lead into questions about localization of function. The relationship of cognitive systems to the brain will be illustrated with evidence from neurological patients. Analysis of language, memory and perception, which do not require formal instruction in order to develop, will be followed by analyses of culturally taught literacy skills. Finally the relationship between emotional systems and the brain will be addressed and the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders.