Review of Case studies in the neuropsychology of vision.

Reviews the book, Case studies in the neuropsychology of vision edited by Glyn H. Humphreys (see record 2000-07366-000). Imagine a car speeding toward you or liquid pouring into a cup, which is seen as a series of stills that stop and restart every few seconds. How would you predict when the cup will overflow or when you and the car will collide? What if you successfully recognized many objects and words in the world, but not your own face in a mirror or those of family members? This edited volume contains investigations of individuals for whom impairments such as these are daily experiences due to cortical brain damage. Beyond the curiosity factor of these accounts lies the importance for theories about the organization of the normal visual cognitive system. Reciprocally, information about the normal system that is gained from these studies may guide future rehabilitation programs that are designed to help individuals plagued by these deficits. Many unique and now classic cases are described in the nine chapters of this book. I suggest that the title, Case Studies in the Neuropsychology of Vision, is somewhat misleading. It implies discussion of cases of all disorders of higher order vision due to brain damage, but acquired deficits of reading are not treated. As such, a more apt title might have been "Case Studies in the Neuropsychology of Object and Face Recognition." Omissions aside, the book provides an excellent introduction to case study methodology and its application to one of the hottest areas of cognitive neuroscience, visual cognition. Although these cases have all been published before, it is useful to have them in a single volume. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive neuroscience: A field with increasing interest to school psychologists.

Reviews the book, Cognitive neuroscience: The biology of the mind by M. Gazzaniga, R. B. Ivry, and G. R. Mangun (1998). This excellent book on cognitive neuroscience provides an exposition of the key areas concerned in cognitive neuroscience for the advanced student in adult neuropsychology and/or biological psychiatry. The authors' aim to balance theory with neuropsychology utilizing neuroscientific evidence to support a theoretical basis is a major contribution of this text. In this book there has been a concerted effort to provide a theoretical basis for cognitive neuroscience in addition to a list of empirical evidence. Such an effort provides a backdrop for future research as well as linking various cognitive functions into an understandable whole. This volume provides an excellent overview of brain anatomy and function. The book is highly readable and provides excellent illustrations of complex material. The main weakness of this volume for school psychologists is the emphasis on adult disorders with no real discussion of the most common childhood disorders. Although the text assumes some familiarity with neuroanatomy, it is useful for practitioners who desire more up-to-date information in this exciting field. This volume would be an excellent textbook for courses in biological bases of behavior for doctoral-level school psychologists, provided there is accompanying information on child neuropsychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Memory, consciousness, and the brain: The Tallinn conference; and The Oxford handbook of memory.

Reviews the books, Memory, consciousness, and the brain: The Tallinn conference edited by Endel Tulving (see record 2000-07362-000) and The Oxford handbook of memory edited by Endel Tulving and Fergus M. Craik (see record 2000-00111-000). Memory, consciousness, and the brain (MCB) is an outgrowth of a conference organized by the editor and his wife, and held in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The organization of the book, accurately described by the editor as "largely illusory" (p. xv), blocks the 25 topic chapters into sections labeled Memory (11 chapters), Consciousness (7 chapters), and The Brain (7 chapters). The editor's hope is that the book will be useful as an introduction to representative research currently being conducted at the boundaries of memory, consciousness, and the brain. To what extent has this objective been achieved? The book certainly serves up a broad menu of topics. The reader looking for something intriguing in the way of research on memory and consciousness in the brain is likely to find it in this volume. What are MCB's weaknesses? The main sin is something that comes with the territory of all conference volumes: uneveness in quality, readability, and organizations, and uncertainty about the audience to be reached by each of the chapters. Regarding The Oxford handbook of memory (OHM), this book describes the growth of memory research from its nadir in the 1950s to the present, and presents summaries of contemporary scientific knowledge about a variety of memory topics. The focus is human memory (although the discussion of brain-memory relations is sometimes based on research with nonhuman primates) as studied from the perspectives of experimental cognitive psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, neuroscience, developmental psychology, theory and modeling, and the ecology of memory. Within this compass, the editors have attempted to ensure coverage of the current major theories, findings, and methods of memory. In the editors' words, the volume is intended to be "a major reference source for people who want to get started in the field, or who wish to check things outside their own regional area" (p. vii). Not only does the book hit its target, we expect that even specialists will benefit from the coverage of subjects in which they have expertise. For now, the OHM is the gold standard and all memory professionals are in the debt of the editors and authors for its existence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Memory in mind and culture.

Reviews the book, Memory in mind and culture edited by Pascal Boyer and James V. Wertsch (see record 2010-05180-000). This book rides the waves of two recent trends: interdisciplinarity and the effect of mind on culture. First, its psychologist and anthropologist editors deliberately chose an interdisciplinary panel of experts on memory, inviting highly respected psychologists, anthropologists, and historians to review cutting-edge memory research in their area of expertise. For psychologists, the resulting collection not only provides readable reviews of current psychology research in memory but also introduces concepts and issues from other disciplines that may open new avenues for research. Second, the book emphasizes the coconstitution of mind and culture, especially seeking evidence for how our minds structure culture. This unusual perspective is especially well developed in the last chapters of the book (Boyer; Rubin) but shows its influence throughout the book, with some authors exploring new ideas about how basic research on memory processes can connect to the study of culture. In summary, this book provides excellent reviews of up-to-date memory research in psychology—from brain structures to blogs—and also innovatively connects this research to larger questions about human culture. Though the coverage of eminent cognitive psychologists is admirable, I wish the book had included some of the new work by cultural and evolutionary psychologists on the topic. Nevertheless, the book advances the field in important ways, pointing the way to new research and theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Geriatric neuropsychology.

Reviews the book, Geriatric neuropsychology by M. S. Albert and M. B. Moss (see record 1988-98391-000). Because the onset of dementing disorders can be insidious and symptoms can mimic psychiatric disturbance, accurate detection early in the course of the disease has traditionally been difficult. However, diagnosis has been aided significantly in recent years by advances in neuropsychological assessment and neuroimaging techniques. Geriatric neuropsychology is an update on such state-of-the-art evaluation. It is divided into five sections. Section I provides a general overview of the field of geriatric neuropsychology, including demographics, characteristics of aging, and methodological issues. Section II reviews research on normal aging changes in cognition, with emphasis on intelligence testing and five major areas of cognitive ability: attention, language, memory, spatial ability, and conceptualization. Sections III and IV cover abnormal cognitive functioning. Section V includes recommendations for future research, emphasizing further study of normal aging and remediation for disease. This book is thorough in its review of the field and in its ability to make practical recommendations. It should be studied by all neuropsychologists, psychologists, and neuroscientists involved in assessment of cognitive functioning in the elderly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Five therapists and one client.

Reviews the book, Five therapists and one client by Raymond J. Corsini (see record 1993-97589-000). To address the question of how the course of therapy would differ depending on the therapist's basic orientation, Corsini created a fictitious client with relatively minor but persistent problems. Therapists from five major systems of psychotherapy were chosen to write very specifically about how they would treat this client. The five systems include Adlerian, person-centered, rationale-emotive, behavioral, and eclectic. The book is divided into six chapters with one chapter for each of the five systems and an introductory chapter in which the problems of the client are given. This is an informative book for professionals, students, and those who are simply interested in the process of psychotherapy and human growth. The book provides very practical, basic information about the therapeutic process from five different perspectives as well as deeper theoretical insight into these respective approaches. Even the sophisticated reader will find much of value in Corsini's book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Neuroscience of cognitive development: The role of experience and the developing brain.

Reviews the book, Neuroscience of cognitive development: The role of experience and the developing brain by Charles A. Nelson, Michelle de Haan, and Kathleen M. Thomas (see record 2006-09288-000). The goal of this book is to provide a state-of-the-art introduction to the neural bases of cognitive development. The first chapter reviews different aspects of brain development. Chapter two illustrates how experience induces changes in the developing brain as well as in the adult brain, and addresses the question of similarities and differences between neural plasticity in children and adults. The next chapter introduces different methods to study the brain and discusses advantages and disadvantages of each method. In Chapters four through eleven, the authors review the current knowledge about the neurological bases in a number of key areas of cognitive development. The book should be of interest to psychologists who seek a thorough review of the neurological bases associated with various cognitive abilities in infants and children. It might also usefully accompany a graduate course on developmental neuroscience, keeping in mind that the book presupposes a good grasp of neuroanatomy, and of the methods used in the study of the brain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neural and cognitive plasticity: From maps to minds.

Some species and individuals are able to learn cognitive skills more flexibly than others. Learning experiences and cortical function are known to contribute to such differences, but the specific factors that determine an organism's intellectual capacities remain unclear. Here, an integrative framework is presented suggesting that variability in cognitive plasticity reflects neural constraints on the precision and extent of an organism's stimulus representations. Specifically, it is hypothesized that cognitive plasticity depends on the number and diversity of cortical modules that an organism has available as well as the brain's capacity to flexibly reconfigure and customize networks of these modules. The author relates this framework to past proposals on the neural mechanisms of intelligence, including (a) the relationship between brain size and intellectual capacity; (b) the role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and the maintenance of stimulus representations; and (c) the impact of neural plasticity and efficiency on the acquisition and performance of cognitive skills. The proposed framework provides a unified account of variability in cognitive plasticity as a function of species, age, and individual, and it makes specific predictions about how manipulations of cortical structure and function will impact intellectual capacity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Neuropsychological assessment and the school-aged child: Issues and procedures.

Reviews the book, Neuropsychological assessment and the school-aged child: Issues and procedures edited by G. W. Hynd and J. E. Obrzut (1981). The editors of this book have attempted to examine the issues related to the assessment of children with possible neuropyschological disorders. Each chapter is presented with the assumption that a neuropsychological perspective is germane to our understanding of children's cognitive functions. The compilation of knowledge and skills are presented in a clear and comprehensible language for individuals with very little familiarity with the subject. Each of the four major sections of the book addresses a particular topic. Section I presents a neuropsychological perspective of children's learning problems. Section II contains three chapters that examine general issues in child neuropsychology. Section III of the book focuses on neuropsychological assessment approaches useful in developing remediational strategies for children's learning disorders. The final section of this book addresses the neuropsychological implications within the educational setting. The editors have done a commendable job in integrating the diverse nature of human cognitive functioning and in focusing in on the neuropsychological aspects of school age children's learning. Their choice of contributors and the topics covered will certainly make this book a valued asset in the school psychologist's library. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Brain, environment and social psychology.

Reviews the book, Brain, Environment and Social Psychology by J. K. Chadwick-Jones, I.I. Lenzer, J. A. Darley and K. A. Hill (1979). The best chapter in this book is James Darley's on ethology and animal behaviour. This chapter provides a clear exposition of basic ethological concepts, and some excellent examples of how ethology differs from comparative psychology, and some excellent examples of the interaction of hereditary and environmental factors in the control of animal behaviour. Other relatively strong chapters include Irmingard Lenzer's chapter on human neuropsychology and Kenneth Hill's chapters on social perception and communication in children. The weakest chapters in the book are those by Chadwick-Jones on methods in social psychology (Chapter 5), and language and social behaviour (Chapter 6). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive neuroscience: Origins and promise.

Both Freud and Wundt had hoped to base psychology on an understanding of the neural basis of mental events. Their efforts were unsuccessful because the structure and function of the human brain was not available for empirical study at the physiological level. Over the last part of this century, there has been amazing growth and vitality in the field of human brain function. In this paper, we trace critical developments in the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and brain imaging related to the development of cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience has established that the decomposition of mental events can be united with an understanding of the mental and emotional computations carried out by the human brain. Cognitive neuroscience has the capability of influencing psychology in diverse areas from how children develop to how adults age; from how humans learn to how we imagine; from volitional control to psychopathologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive functioning ten years following traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation.

Many previous studies investigating long-term cognitive impairments following traumatic brain injury (TBI) have focused on extremely severely injured patients, relied on subjective reports of change and failed to use demographically relevant control data. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive impairments 10 years following TBI and their association with injury severity. Sixty TBI and 43 control participants were assessed on tests of attention, processing speed, memory, and executive function. The TBI group demonstrated significant cognitive impairment on measures of processing speed (Symbol Digit Modalities Test [SDMT], Smith, 1973; Digit Symbol Coding, Wechsler, 1997), memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test [RAVLT]; Rey, 1958; Lezak, 1976), Doors and People tests; Baddeley, Emslie & Nimmo-Smith, 1994) and executive function (Hayling C [Burgess & Shallice, 1997] and SART errors, Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley & Yiend, 1997). Logistic Regression analyses indicated that the SDMT, Rey AVLT and Hayling C and SART errors most strongly differentiated the groups in the domains of attention/processing speed, memory and executive function, respectively. Greater injury severity was significantly correlated with poorer test performances across all domains. This study shows that cognitive impairments are present many years following TBI and are associated with injury severity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The handbook of neuropsychological assessment.

Reviews the book, The handbook of neuropsychological assessment by A. Gilandas, S. Touyz, P. J. Beumont, and H. P. Greenberg (1984). This book was written as a clinical/actuarial guide for developing a neuropsychological examination that assesses a broad band of abilities yet is efficient and effective. According to the authors, this 10-chapter handbook was designed for practitioners and students of clinical neuropsychology and is applicable to fields such as school psychology, rehabilitation, psychiatry, and neurology. The authors consider issues central to the practice of clinical neuropsychology, including an overview of theoretical implications, client populations, and issues in neuropsychological assessment. The authors cite delirium, dementia, epilepsy, and organic delusion as some of the major manifestations of brain damage. This volume appropriately details the symptoms, etiology, duration, and treatment of these disorders. It is obvious that school psychologists beginning study in neuropsychology will find a great deal of this volume worthwhile. Of particular interest to school psychologists is the section concerning theoretical implications, which stresses the impact that clinical neuropsychology could have on other applied psychological specialties. Although the majority of the book deals with adults, it seems time to broaden school psychology to such a lifelong focus. So too, after considering the fact that almost 10% of the positions in applied psychology call for neuropsychology-related skills, it appears that such a neuropsychology text could be seen as a necessity when training applied psychologists. Indeed, this book may be an appropriate addition to advanced school psychology assessment courses. Perhaps most impressive are the strategies for revising established neuropsychological test batteries to become comprehensive yet effective tools for understanding brain-behavior relations. However, only time and data will indicate if the revised instruments will prove successful in diagnosing and intervening with cerebrally impaired patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Studies in neuropsychology: Selected papers of Arthur Benton.

Reviews the book, Studies in neuropsychology: Selected lepers of Arthur Benton by E. Costa and O. Spreen. This current volume stands as a monument to the contribution that Benton has made to the field of neuropsychology since his resignation from the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1936. This volume contains 29 articles by Benton and his many colleagues, one of which is a hitherto unpublished work on aphasia. These articles span the years 1956-84 and remind those of us who are familiar only with a few of Benton's most seminal papers of the breadth of his interests, which range from classical medical history to the experimental technology of the present. What better compliment for a book than to say that it has whetted one's appetite for more by the same author. In all, I believe that the editors are to be congratulated for providing an important source book for students in the field of neuropsychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Child neuropsychology: An introduction to theory, research, and clinical practice.

Reviews the book, Child neuropsychology: An introduction to theory, research, and clinical practice by Byron P. Rourke, Dirk J. Bakker, John L. Fisk, and John D. Strang (1983). With the arrival of this landmark text, there is now an established child neuropsychology literature that suggests more clearly than ever before that injury to the growing brain is often accompanied by strikingly different behavioural sequelae than a similar injury to the mature brain. This volume opens with a repudiation of the "nature-nurture" controversy. The second chapter includes a relevant and well-communicated account of the embryonic and foetal development of the nervous system. Chapters on brain asymmetry and plasticity combine to form the scholarly core of the text. Methodological problems in the study of cerebral asymmetry are highlighted. Chapters on assessment and remediation together with individual case studies illustrate how theory and research affect the manner in which one performs as a clinician. A review of behaviour modification strategies and insight-oriented psychotherapy is one of the few areas of weakness in this otherwise excellent volume. Child neuropsychology is one of the first books of its kind and is recommended highly for anyone interested in the study of brain/behaviour relationships in children. Its use as a textbook for senior undergraduate or graduate courses in child neuropsychology is strongly endorsed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive science: Making the whole different from the sum of its parts.

Reviews the book, From models to modules: Studies in cognitive science from the McGill workshops edited by I. Gopnik and M. Gopnik (1986). This book is only moderately successful in conveying the exciting advances that are beginning to appear as a result of the interdisciplinary efforts in cognitive science. The book's emphasis on language processes and linguistics will seriously limit its potential readership, although there are some contributions from outside that domain. Moreover, many of the chapters were not prepared with a general audience in mind, and to appreciate a number of the chapters fully the reader must have a strong linguistic background. A more severe problem is that the chapters are based on a series of workshops held at McGill University in 1982 and 1983. The sad consequences are that (a) the book is badly out of date (few references are more recent than 1983), (b) most of the contributions were not original but were based on ideas and results that were or were about to be in print at the time the workshops were held, and (c) many of the chapters are so short that they do not provide adequate depth of coverage. At this late date, the value of the book may be as a summary of a few of the early issues and methodologies that have captured the attention of cognitive scientists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Pain: psychological perspectives.

Reviews the book, Pain: psychological perspectives edited by S. Rachman and Jack D. Maser (see record 1988-97293-000). The success of this book lies in its focus on the symptom of panic rather than on the diagnosis of panic disorder. The three main psychological theories discussed in the book are: (a) Clark's cognitive theory of panic, which postulates that panic attacks result from the catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations; (b) van den Hout's Pavlovian theory of panic, which postulates that bodily sensations such as heart palpitations become conditioned stimuli for panic attacks through the temporal contiguity of these stimuli with the first spontaneous panic attack; and (c) Lang's information processing theory, which Lang discusses in relation to phobias but, unfortunately, not to any appreciable extent in relation to panic. Each theory is clearly presented in one of three chapters, each of which is written by the originator of the theory. I hope that this book will get a wide readership. It would act as a stimulant in senior undergraduate and graduate courses. I hope also that it will convince psychopathologists of the value of the symptom-approach in research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Get the picture? The effects of iconicity on toddlers' reenactment from picture books.

What do toddlers learn from everyday picture-book reading interactions? To date, there has been scant research exploring this question. In this study, the authors adapted a standard imitation procedure to examine 18- to 30-month-olds' ability to learn how to reenact a novel action sequence from a picture book. The results provide evidence that toddlers can imitate specific target actions on novel real-world objects on the basis of a picture-book interaction. Children's imitative performance after the reading interaction varied both as a function of age and the level of iconicity of the pictures in the book. These findings are discussed in terms of children's emerging symbolic capacity and the flexibility of the cognitive representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Human developmental neuropsychology.

Reviews the book, Human developmental neuropsychology by Otfried Spreen, David Tupper, Anthony Risser, Holly Tuokko, and Dorothy Edgell (1984). The authors accepted a formidable challenge when they undertook this volume. The goals were first to review developmental psychology, pediatric neurology, and developmental neurobiology and, second, to integrate the information from these fields, attempting to make it understandable for the nonspecialist. They succeeded at the first and failed at the second. As a survey and catalogue of information, the book is truly impressive. It summarizes some 1600 references from very diverse fields and includes many goldmines of little-known material for the specialist. The volume is worth the price for this alone and I expect to use it often as a reference source. Finally, the book will serve as a good companion to Gaddes' book, Learning Disabilities and Brain Function. What is most important about this combination is that both books are from the psychology department at the University of Victoria and serve to underscore the fact that this department is developing into an important center for neuropsychological study in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)