ABSTRACT

To survive, organisms must be sensitive to events occurring in their environments and respond appropriately. At the most elementary level, organisms must avoid hazards such as predators and other threats, must secure food, and, for species survival, must pursue reproduction. The nervous system is the site at which such transactions with the environment are processed. The nervous system also governs endogenous transactions such as controlling neuroendocrine secretions and carries on commerce with the immune system, but such functions are processed in the background, so to speak. The integrity of the nervous system, paramount to both individual and species survival, is reflected predominantly by the integrity of behavior.