Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience

Reviewed by Rodrigo Pedroza Linas, Visiting Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Kenyon College on 6/26/25

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience provides an extensive overview of key topics in behavioral neuroscience. It's organized like most other introductory books, starting with foundational topics like neuroanatomy and neurophysiology and progressing in complexity to ending with a few chapters dedicated to cognitive neuroscience. Among this book's strengths is that it covers important topics not frequently found in other textbooks, like neuroimmunology. Similarly, I find it particularly valuable that this book has a full chapter dedicated to comparative neuroanatomy (chapter 4), which, in my opinion, gives students a better perspective and helps them better understand and appreciate the different anatomical and functional levels of the neuraxis. On the flip side, the book doesn't have dedicated sections to communication and language processing or to neurological disorders; these topics are rather spread out in different chapters. Nevertheless, other open-access sources can easily supplement and expand these topics.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found this book's content accurate and rigorously based on published evidence. All concepts, explanations, and diagrams I reviewed were error-free and solid.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

As far as I can see, and acknowledging I'm not an expert in every topic, the book’s content appears accurate and up-to-date. The concepts and explanations are clearly grounded in evidence and presented with appropriate rigor. In most chapters, the sources cited have a healthy balance between foundational “classical” studies that provide the backbone and more recent research that offers an updated perspective. I think the book overall is circumspect enough to stay relevant in the foreseeable future.

Clarity rating: 4

The way many chapters, particularly the first few, are written makes it easy to follow, making sure every new term is completely defined before moving forward. However, some later chapters quickly adopt a more technical and less accessible tone. For example, I think some students would struggle with the "seizure and memory impairments" section in chapter 18; I think many students won't be able to adequately understand what interictal epileptiform discharges are to follow the rest of the section.

The list of key terms at the end of each chapter is helpful to keep track of important concepts; however, I think turning this list into some kind of glossary would boost its pedagogical strength.

Consistency rating: 4

As mentioned previously, the most significant consistency issue I found is the disparity in the prose across chapters, some of which are slightly easier to follow (e.g., chapters 2 or 17) than others (e.g., parts of chapter 18). I couldn't detect inconsistencies in terminology or theoretical framework, particularly within chapters.

The visual consistency is helpful: diagrams follow the part of the text that refers to them, helping illustrate the concept or system explained. As an exceptional example, I think all diagrams in chapter 2 greatly help to visualize and understand such a complex subject (i.e., the ionic bases of the membrane potential).

Modularity rating: 5

The book is structured and written in such a way that individual chapters or even individual sections can be assigned, depending on the topic that needs to be covered. I assigned my students selected sections from chapter 1 and chapter 2 to have them learn the organization of the nervous system, basic neuroanatomy, and some essential concepts of neurophysiology. They didn't have any issues focusing on those specific sections and finding the concepts I asked them to read about. Of course, not every chapter or section can be read in complete isolation; e.g., it's much harder to understand basic neurochemistry (chapter 3) without knowing how neurons work (chapter 2).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

As mentioned before, the book follows an overall structure similar to other introductory textbooks. Individually, most chapters seek to progressively increase in depth and complexity. Sometimes that progression, however, seems a bit unconventional. For example, chapter 10 (motor control) explains the role of the PFC, basal ganglia, and cerebellum (in that order) before the motor cortex and the descending pathways. I understand the logic behind it, and I think such logic could be much better explained in the opening paragraphs.

Interface rating: 5

The book avoids large and uninterrupted blocks of text, which very often tire and confuse students. Additionally, since the book is completely available online, it offers two additional benefits: a contents sidebar that greatly facilitates navigation and the ability for students to configure the font size as they prefer. Even when some of my students chose to print out parts of the book from the PDF, they didn't find any issues with crammed text or distorted images.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn't find any grammatical errors or nonsensical sentences anywhere in the book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found that the descriptions of neurological patients are handled with care, avoiding stigmatizing language, which is commendable. Moreover, the book's visual contents make a visible effort to portray diversity, which, while not prominently featured, is also very much welcome.

Comments

All things considered, I think Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience is a good alternative to commercial textbooks. Its scope, depth, rigor, organization, and accuracy make it a great option to base an introductory course on.