Book excerpt: Neuroscience Fundamentals for Communication Sciences and Disorders, Second Edition is a comprehensive textbook primarily designed for undergraduate neural bases or graduate neuroscience courses in communication sciences and disorders programs (CSD). The text can also be used as an accessible go-to reference for speech-language pathology and audiology clinical professionals practicing in medical and rehab settings. Written with an engaging and conversational style, the author uses humor and analogies to explain concepts that are often challenging for students. Complemented by more than 400 visually rich and beautifully drawn full-color illustrations, the book emphasizes brain and behavior relationships while also ensuring coverage of essential neuroanatomy and neurophysiology in an integrative fashion. With a comprehensive background in the principles, processes, and structures underlying the workings of the human nervous system, students and practitioners alike will be able to better understand and apply brain-behavior relationships to make appropriate clinical assessments and treatment decisions. Extending well beyond traditional neuroanatomy-based textbooks, this resource is designed to satisfy three major goals: Provide neuroanatomical and neurophysiological detail that meets the real-world needs of the contemporary CSD student as they move forward toward clinical practice and into the future where advancements in the field of health and brain sciences are accelerating and contributing more and more each day to all areas of rehabilitation. Provide clear, understandable explanations and intuitive material that explains how and why neuroanatomical systems, processes, and mechanisms of the nervous system operate as they do during human behavior. Provide a depth and scope of material that will allow the reader to better understand and appreciate a wide range of evidence-based literature related to behavior, cognition, emotion, language, and sensory perception—areas that all directly impact treatment decisions. New to the Second Edition: * 40 new full-color illustrations * Reorganization and division of content from Chapters 4, 5, and 6 of the previous edition, into six new and more digestible chapters * A new standalone chapter on the cranial nerves * Addition of a major section and discussion on the neural bases of swallowing * Addition of more summary tables and process flowcharts to simplify the text and provide ready-made study materials for students * Revisions to most figures to improve their clarity and coherence with the written material Disclaimer: Please note that ancillary content (such as documents, audio, and video, etc.) may not be included as published in the original print version of this book.