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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Physiological & neuro-psychology
In a broad sense, neuropsychology stands for the branch of brain sciences that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific cognitive and psychological processes. The idea of developing a research field somewhere between neurology and cognitive psychology emerged in the 1960s as a result of studies conducted by both disciplines which, although using different methodologies and tools, were analysing the same issues. Neuropsychology particularly puts emphasis on the clinical and experimental study of the cognitive effects of brain injury or neurological diseases, taking models of normal cognitive functioning into account. Neuropsychological Research: A Review provides a meticulous overview of what has been achieved in the field of cognitive neuropsychology from its early beginnings in the 1960s and 1970s to the present day. Authors include some of the pioneers involved in the genesis of neuropsychology as an independent and distinct field of neuroscience. The comprehensive coverage includes language disorders, skilled movement disorders, recognition disorders, attentional and executive disorders, visuo-perceptual disorders, memory disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. This fascinating text forms an enjoyable tribute to the rich heritage of neuropsychology, and will be essential reading for researchers and students of neuropsychology, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, and behavioural neuroscience.
Emotions--fleeting, insubstantial, changeable, and ambiguous--seem to defy study and analysis. Nothing is more complex, mysterious, and subject to conflicting theories and interpretations than human emotion. Yet the central importance of emotion in human affairs is undeniable. Emotions affect all levels of life--personal, organizational, political, cultural, economic, and religious. Emotions give meaning to life. Emotional disturbances can destroy that meaning. How should emotions be studied? How can an understanding of the inner feelings of individuals illuminate important social interactions and human developments? In his book, Norman Denzin presents a systematic, in-depth analysis of emotion that combines new theoretical advances with practical applications. Based on an intensive, critical examination of classical and modern theoretical research--and on revealing personal interviews in which ordinary people express their emotional lives--he builds a new framework for understanding ordinary emotions and emotional disturbances. Denzin analyzes how people experience joy and pain, love and hate, anger and despair, friendship and alienation--and examines the personal, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of human emotion to provide new perspectives for understanding human experience and social interactions. He offers new insights on the role of emotions in family violence and recommends ways of helping people escape from recurring patterns of violence. And in criticizing current conceptions of emotionally disturbed people, he reveals the nature of their inner lives and the ways they perceive and relate to others. In sum, this book presents new insights on human relationships and human experience. It is now available in paperback for the first time, with a new introduction by the author.
Neal E. Miller's pioneering work in experimental psychology has earned him worldwide respect. This second in a two-volume collection of his work brings together forty-three of Miller's most important and representative essays on learning, motivation, and their physiological mechanisms. They were selected on the basis of their current relevance and their historical significance at the time they were published. In order to emphasize the main themes, essays on a given topic have been grouped together. "Learning, Motivation, and Their Physiological Mechanisms" begins when the author first discovered the thrill of designing and executing experiments to get clear-cut answers concerning the behavior of children and of rats. The first study was one of the earliest ones on the behavioral effects of the recently synthesized male hormone, testosterone. The second was one of the earliest studies demonstrating the value of using a variety of behavioral techniques to investigate the motivational effects of a physiological intervention. The next studies investigated the satisfying and rewarding effects of food or water in the stomach versus in the mouth and the thirst-inducing and reducing effects of hyper- and hypotonic solutions, respectively, injected into the brain. The last study describes a technique devised for extending the analysis of the mechanism of hunger to the effects of humoral factors in the blood. The study is completed with an examination of trial-and-error learning that was motivated by direct electrical stimulation of the brain and rewarded by the termination of such stimulation. Other studies show that the stimulation via such electrodes not only elicits eating, but also has the principal motivational characteristics of normal hunger. The conclusion deals with a series of experiments that overthrows strong traditional beliefs by proving that glandular and visceral responses mediated by the autonomic nervous system are subject to instrumental learning, which can be made quite specific.
Learning disabilities is a subject that is usually associated with school-aged children where the research and intervention strategies are well known. Much less research has been done for assessing and diagnosing older adolescents and adults in this area. This work is an effort to provide a comprehensive review of what we know about certain of these disorders, specifically: language-based learning disorders; nonverbal learning disorders; high-functioning autism; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and mathematics disorders and how they manifest themselves in the later years of development and maturity. A chapter addresses each one of these disorders of learning. Included in each chapter is a discussion of historical perspectives, definitions and diagnostic criteria, incidence and prevalence data, comorbidity studies, pertinent research from all relevant fields of study, reasonable accommodations in academia as well as the workplace, and outcome data. This much-needed review will be of interest to clinicians in neuropsychology, educational psychology, and psychopharmacology.
A variety of scientific disciplines have set as their task explaining mental activities, recognizing that in some way these activities depend upon our brain. But, until recently, the opportunities to conduct experiments directly on our brains were limited. As a result, research efforts were split between disciplines such as cognitive psychology, linguistics, and artificial intelligence that investigated behavior, while disciplines such as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and genetics experimented on the brains of non-human animals. In recent decades these disciplines integrated, and with the advent of techniques for imaging activity in human brains, the term cognitive neuroscience has been applied to the integrated investigations of mind and brain. This book is a philosophical examination of how these disciplines continue in the mission of explaining our mental capacities.
A variety of scientific disciplines have set as their task explaining mental activities, recognizing that in some way these activities depend upon our brain. But, until recently, the opportunities to conduct experiments directly on our brains were limited. As a result, research efforts were split between disciplines such as cognitive psychology, linguistics, and artificial intelligence that investigated behavior while disciplines such as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and genetics experimented on the brains of non-human animals. In recent decades these disciplines integrated, and with the advent of techniques for imaging activity in human brains, the term cognitive neuroscience has been applied to the integrated investigations of mind and brain. This book is a philosophical examination of how these disciplines continue in the mission of explaining our mental capacities.
Rehabilitation provides a core concept around which to organise support, intervention and care for people with impairments in memory and other cognitive functions. This book introduces a conceptual framework and rationale for the application of a neuropsychological rehabilitation approach for people with dementia, helping them to manage, bypass or overcome these problems and experience optimum well-being. Methods and techniques of cognitive rehabilitation are described and the process of goal-setting is discussed in detail, showing how effective strategies may be linked to form an individualised, goal-oriented approach to intervention. The application of a rehabilitation approach in real-life contexts is explored, demonstrating the role and value of neuropsychological rehabilitation within a holistic, psychotherapeutic framework of care and support. This overview of the neuropsychological rehabilitation approach to dementia care will be of great interest to psychologists as well as to those studying or practising in the area.
Clinical Neuroscience offers a comprehensive overview of the biological bases of major psychological and psychiatric disorders, and provides foundational information regarding the anatomical and physiological principles of brain functioning. In addition, the book presents information concerning neuroplasticity, pharmacology, brain imaging, and brain stimulation techniques. Subsequent chapters address specific psychological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, including major depressive and bipolar disorders, anxiety, schizophrenia, disorders of childhood origin, and addiction, as well as neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. This highly readable textbook expands case examples and illustrations to discuss the latest research findings in clinical neuroscience from an empirical, interdisciplinary perspective.
Neuropsychological assessment is a difficult and complicated
process. Often, experienced clinicians as well as trainees and
students gloss over fundamental problems or fail to consider
potential sources of error. Since formal test data on the surface
appear unambiguous and objective, they may fall into the habit of
overemphasizing tests and their scores and underemphasizing all the
factors that affect the validity, reliability, and interpretability
of test data. But interpretation is far from straightforward, and a
pragmatic application of assessment results requires attention to a
multitude of issues.
This innovative program offers practical, useful strategies for people with AD/HD, so that they can make use of their brain functions that do work well and learn day-to-day skills that may otherwise be too difficult to master. Based on the concept of visual thinking and filled with tips on how to keep the body at its highest functioning level, this program helps AD/HD sufferers become successful in their everyday lives. The authors share simple yet powerful techniques to develop and harness the strengths of the visual right brain, while at the same time demonstrating how treatment for AD/HD can maximize success.
Since the problems of race relations are worldwide, the international origins and perspectives of this excellent and timely book are especially advantageous. More research has been done in the United States than elsewhere on the psychology of race relations, so it is appropriate that a plurality of the chapters of this book are by American authors--a stellar group that includes leading contributors to our contemporary knowledge of the topic. Contributors from the English-speaking Commonwealth countries are next in number, followed by authors from the United Kingdom, where race-related issues have only recently become a salient concern of politics and social ethics. The editor has assigned topics to his carefully chosen author-experts not by country or region, but by matching the expertise of each author against a need for coherent analysis of the important aspects of aepsychology and race.' "Psychology and Race" is divided into two major parts. The first half of the book looks at the interracial situation itself. The first section concentrates on the majority or dominant group, and describes the development and measurement of racial awareness and prejudice and techniques for reducing prejudice; the second section focuses on the reactions of subordinate or minority groups; and the third deals with specific aspects of interpersonal interaction-attitudes, behavior, and performance--when the people concerned are of different races. The book also looks at those areas of life where race is relevant and where psychology can help in an understanding of the situation. The scope of this volume, the distinction of its authors, and the hardheaded sense of reality it brings to the discussion of these extremely complex issues will make it an invaluable resource not only for teachers and students but also for everyone concerned in any way with this most pressing issue of our times. "Peter Watson" was deputy editor of "The New Society" and spent a total of four years with "The London Sunday Times" as part of their Insight Team. He has written several books and since 1998 has been Research Associate at the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre located at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
In the 1990s, great strides were taken in clarifying how the brain is involved in behaviors that, in the past, had seldom been studied by neuroscientists or psychologists. This book explores the progress begun during that momentous decade in understanding why we behave, think and feel the way we do, especially in those areas that interface with religion. What is happening in the brain when we have a religious experience? Is the soul a product of the mind which is, in turn, a product of the brain? If so, what are the implications for the Christian belief in an afterlife? If God created humans for the purpose of having a relationship with him, should we expect to find that our spirituality is a biologically evolved human trait? What effect might a disease such as Alzheimer's have on a person's spirituality and relationship with God? Neuroscience and psychology are providing information relevant to each of these questions, and many Christians are worried that their religious beliefs are being threatened by this research.Kevin Seybold attempts to put their concerns to rest by presenting some of the scientific findings coming from these disciplines in a way that is understandable yet non-threatening to Christian belief.
The explosion of research on emotional intelligence (EI) in the past decade has provided increasing evidence that EI can be measured reliably and can be useful in predicting important outcomes, such as managerial effectiveness and relationship quality. Naturally, people are now asking, "So, how does one improve EI?". Applying Emotional Intelligence collects the most important programs focused on that idea, and enquires of their originators, "What do you do?", "Why do you do it?", and, "What is the evidence for your approach?". The emphasis of the book is applied, in that it provides and contrasts concrete examples of what we do in our interventions in a wide variety of situations. The chapters present descriptions of programs, including specific activities and exercises that influence emotional knowledge and social effectiveness more generally. While practical in its focus, this book also discusses the theoretical bases for these approaches. These are new programs with outcomes that are now beginning to be studied. The book presents the most important and recent research findings that examine the efficacy of these programs. Applying Emotional Intelligence is a "must-read" for anyone interested in EI and its application. This book will be of interest to researchers conducting EI intervention research, as well as a wide variety of practitioners, including those interested in developing EI in organizations, health areas, clinical populations, and school-age settings. Finally, the book is designed to be relevant to the reader's own life, encouraging the reader to consider how the programs and the exercises might impact his or her personality and outlook, as well as contribute to the development of those who have themselves participated in the programs.
This volume addresses itself to the ways in which the so-called 'new sciences of complexity' can deepen and broaden neurobiological and psychological theories of mind. Complexity theory has gained increasing attention over the past 20 years across diverse areas of inquiry, including mathematics, physics, economics, biology, and the social sciences. Complexity theory concerns itself with how nonlinear dynamical systems evolve and change over time and draws on research arising from chaos theory, self-organization, artificial intelligence and cellular automata, to name a few. This emerging discipline shows many points of convergence with psychological theory and practice, emphasizing that history is irreversible and discontinuous, that small early interventions can have large and unexpected later effects, that each life trajectory is unique yet patterned, that measurement error is not random and cannot be justifiably distributed equally across experimental conditions, that a system's collective and coordinated organization is emergent and often arises from simple components in interaction, and that change is more likely to emerge under conditions of optimal turbulence.
Intended primarily for mental health professionals, Demystifying Love deals plainly with topics rarely written about for clinicians. The book discusses in a small package highly readable and useful topics, such as love (as both noun and verb), psychological intimacy, sexual desire, as well as infidelity, both in background concepts and clinical guidelines. As the book shows, love is the logical point of departure for a clinical understanding of sexuality and its problems. It is the most conventional framework for understanding sexual behaviors, the one that is broadly endorsed across many cultures, often as the ideal context for sexual expression. The book integrates an analysis of love in patients dealing with intimacy, sexual desire, infidelity, forgiveness and reconciliation. Detailed with compelling case studies, the author's skill as a therapist comes through in the discussion of these topics-many of which are at the heart of numerous couple problems. In creating this illuminating work for mental health professionals, Dr. Levine may have underestimated its appeal. Dr. Levine's ability to shed light on our internal processes as we love and attempt to be loved throughout life may prove to be of interest to a far broader audience.
The developing infant can accomplish all important perceptual tasks that an adult can, albeit with less skill or precision. Through infant perception research, infant responses to experiences enable researchers to reveal perceptual competence, test hypotheses about processes, and infer neural mechanisms, and researchers are able to address age-old questions about perception and the origins of knowledge. In The Cradle of Knowledge: Development of Perception in Infancy Revisited, Martha E. Arterberry and Philip J. Kellman study the methods and data of scientific research on infant perception, introducing and analyzing topics (such as space, pattern, object, and motion perception) through philosophical, theoretical, and historical contexts. Infant perception research is placed in a philosophical context by addressing the abilities with which humans appear to be born, those that appear to emerge due to experience, and the interaction of the two. The theoretical perspective is informed by the ecological tradition, and from such a perspective the authors focus on the information available for perception, when it is used by the developing infant, the fit between infant capabilities and environmental demands, and the role of perceptual learning. Since the original publication of this book in 1998 (MIT), Arterberry and Kellman address in addition the mechanisms of change, placing the basic capacities of infants at different ages and exploring what it is that infants do with this information. Significantly, the authors feature the perceptual underpinnings of social and cognitive development, and consider two examples of atypical development - congenital cataracts and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Professionals and students alike will find this book a critical resource to understanding perception, cognitive development, social development, infancy, and developmental cognitive neuroscience, as research on the origins of perception has changed forever our conceptions of how human mental life begins.
This volume addresses itself to the ways in which the so-called 'new sciences of complexity' can deepen and broaden neurobiological and psychological theories of mind. Complexity theory has gained increasing attention over the past 20 years across diverse areas of inquiry, including mathematics, physics, economics, biology, and the social sciences. Complexity theory concerns itself with how nonlinear dynamical systems evolve and change over time and draws on research arising from chaos theory, self-organization, artificial intelligence and cellular automata, to name a few. This emerging discipline shows many points of convergence with psychological theory and practice, emphasizing that history is irreversible and discontinuous, that small early interventions can have large and unexpected later effects, that each life trajectory is unique yet patterned, that measurement error is not random and cannot be justifiably distributed equally across experimental conditions, that a system's collective and coordinated organization is emergent and often arises from simple components in interaction, and that change is more likely to emerge under conditions of optimal turbulence.
The second edition of Principles of Frontal Lobe Function is a newly organized, and thoroughly updated, volume divided into 9 different sections, each co-edited by leaders in the specific domain of frontal lobe research. The topic areas include anatomy and neuropharmacology, development, systems and models, fundamental cognitive mechanisms, social behavior, clinical neuropsychology, aging, psychiatric disorders, and rehabilitation. This organization reflects both an increase in our combined knowledge about frontal lobe functioning through new imaging technologies, as well as the expansion of the field as a whole to include new topics such as social neuroscience that were not discussed in the first edition. Principles of Frontal Lobe Function will naturally be of particular interest to researchers and clinicians actively investigating how the frontal lobes operate and to understand dysfunction as a means to design treatment. This new edition will also be a useful resource for anyone involved in a discipline related to brain function, whether it be cognitive neuroscience, behavioral neurology, neuropsychiatry, neuropsychology, or neurorehabilitation. Our knowledge of how the frontal lobes are integrated with functioning in every other region of the brain is also integrating our approach to solving brain-based problems. Authors in this volume represent investigators who are deep-rooted in frontal lobe research. As such, students will be exposed to both the classical and frontier perspectives and will gain significant insight into future research directions of what we believe to be the most fascinating area of the brain. Features Expanded and organized into sections representing both an increase in knowledge as well as the addition of new areas of research within the field. Combines classical and new researchers Has an multi-disciplinary integrative perspective
As new technology fuels the rapid growth of research in psychophysiology, it is essential that those new to the field receive a comprehensive introduction. Psychophysiology: Human Behavior and Physiological Response provides students with elementary information regarding the anatomy and physiology of various body systems, recording techniques, integrative reviews of literature, and concepts in the field. Highly accessible, this book fills a gap between edited handbooks that are often difficult for beginners, and journal articles that may also be a challenge to digest. In this new edition, John L. Andreassi incorporates: *a glossary of terms at the end of each chapter to help students learn definitions of novel terms introduced throughout the book; *a new chapter focusing on the proliferation of neuroimaging studies, including positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); and *content changes in all chapters to cover new areas of research, as well as to update findings in traditional topics of interest. Upper level undergraduate and beginning graduate students in psychophysiology, biological psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and physiological psychology will benefit immensely from this important text, just as professionals new to psychophysiology will find this book exceptionally useful in their work.
The growth of clinical neuropsychology has been unprecedented. This growth has been oriented more toward the provision of than toward the foundation for services. Thus, while a greater number of psychologists are performing a greater number of neuropsychological procedures, there seems to us an uneven parallel growth between these services and the empirical foundations for them. It should come to no one's surprise that increasingly aggressive attacks on the field have been leveled. Despite these attacks, clinical neuropsychology con tinues to enjoy exceptional growth within psychology and acceptance by other health practitioners, insurance companies, legislators, judges, juries, and above all, consumers of our services. Growth without self-reflection is a dangerous enterprise, as is growth without directions. We find it disconcerting that existing and limited "self analysis" has assumed that neuropsychological dysfunction is immune to the same variables that affect psychological dysfunction. Some attention has been paid to the most obvious ones, such as age, but all others have been ignored and/ or misunderstood. This neglect has spawned a body of knowledge replete with questionable data and unfounded conclusions. Hence, it is surprising that clinical neuropsychologists consider themselves to be more scientifically sound than their regular clinical counterparts."
A child with developmental dyslexia or an adult with a reading disorder following brain damage might read the word shoe as 'show', why does this happen? Most current information processing models of reading distinguish between two alternative procedures for the pronunciation of a printed word. The difference between these concerns the level at which orthography is translated to phonology in one, the word-level procedure, a word is read aloud with reference to knowledge specific to that whole word. In the other, the sub-word-level procedure, a printed word is pronounced with reference to knowledge about smaller segments which occur in many different words. Both procedures contribute to normal skilled reading and its acquisition. But if one of the procedures is disrupted, then oral reading will be forced to rely on the alternative routine. Surface dyslexia is a general label for any disorder of reading which results from inadequate functioning of the word-level procedure and in consequence abnormal reliance on sub-word level translation from orthography to phonology. Originally published in 1985, this book provides new evidence about the diverse manifestations of surface dyslexia in adult neurological patients and in children with developmental disorders of reading. The data are drawn from speakers of a range of languages with distinct orthographies. Process models for the pronunciation of print are elaborated, and an appendix gives neurological information on the patients reported.
The Laws of Emotion is an accessible work that reviews much of the insightful new research on emotions conducted over the last ten years. It expands on the theory of emotions introduced in Nico Frijda's earlier work and addresses a number of unanswered, basic problems on emotion theory. The author's goal is to better understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of emotion. In this book, Professor Frijda also examines previously neglected topics of emotion such as determinants of emotional intensity, the duration of emotions, and sexual emotions. It touches on both evolutionary and neuroscientific explanations. The book begins by reviewing a number of principles governing emotion, or "the laws of emotion". The author then examines the passionate nature of emotions and the motivational processes underlying them, and the nature and causes of pleasure and pain. Professor Frijda then explores the processes that lead to emotional arousal, including cognitive influences and why people care more about certain things than others. Emotional intensity is then discussed, including the often-neglected topic of the course of emotions over time. The book concludes with the author's insights into complex emotional domains such as sex, revenge, and the need to commemorate past events. The Laws of Emotion will appeal to social, cognitive, and developmental psychologists, social scientists, philosophers, and neuroscientists, as well as anyone interested in the workings of the mind. It also serves as a text for advanced courses in the psychology of emotions or the neuroscience of emotions.
"The" "Laws of Emotion" is an accessible new book that reviews much
of the insightful new research on emotions conducted over the last
ten years. It expands on the theory of emotions introduced in Nico
Frijda's earlier work and addresses a number of unanswered, basic
problems on emotion theory. The author's goal is to better
understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of emotion. In
this new book, Professor Frijda also examines previously neglected
topics of emotion such as determinants of emotional intensity, the
duration of emotions, and sexual emotions. It touches on both
evolutionary and neuroscientific explanations.
This book is about savoring life-- the capacity to attend to the
joys, pleasures, and other positive feelings that we experience in
our lives. The authors enhance our understanding of what savoring
is and the conditions under which it occurs. "Savoring" provides a
new theoretical model for conceptualizing and understanding the
psychology of enjoyment and the processes through which people
manage positive emotions. The authors review their quantitative
research on savoring, as well as the research of others, and
provide measurement instruments with scoring instructions for
assessing and studying savoring.
Short-term or working memory the capacity to hold and manipulate
information mentally over brief periods of time plays an important
role in supporting a wide range of everyday activities,
particularly in childhood. Children with weak working memory skills
often struggle in key areas of learning and, given its impact on
cognitive abilities, the identification of working memory
impairments is a priority for those who work with children with
learning disabilities. |
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