This book brings together a number of lectures given since the nineteenth century at the Collège de France. Together, this group of physiologists, psychologists, and pharmocologists trace the contours of the cognitive sciences. Each text is preceded by a historical introduction which outlines the text itself, provides notes which help clarify its meaning, places it within the framework of the work as a whole. More than a monument to the glory of a particular institution, Alain Berthoz paints a clear picture of the cognitive sciences in France, and makes an apology for physiology.

Alain Berthoz is a professor at the Collège de France, where he heads research on the physiology of perception and action.