Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Physiological & neuro-psychology
This is Robert Fried's third book on the crucial role of breathing and hyperventilation in our emotional and physical health. The first, The Hyperventilation Syndrome (1987), was a scholarly monograph, and the second, The Breath Connection (1990a), was a popular version for the lay reader. This book combines the best features of both and extends Dr. Fried's seminal work to protocols for clinical psychophysiology and psy chiatry. Hoping to avoid misunderstanding, he has taken systematic care to introduce relevant electrical, physiological, and psychological concepts in operational language for the widest possible professional audience. Any clinician not thoroughly experienced in respiratory psycho physiology and biofeedback will leave these pages with profound new insight and direction into an aspect of our liveswhich we innocently take for granted as "common sense"-the role of breathing in health and illness. Einstein viewed such common sense as "that set of prejudices we acquired prior to the age of eighteen." I am impressed that Dr. Fried mirrors Einstein's uncanny genius in not accepting the obvious breathing is not "common sense" but, rather, is a pivotal psycho physiological mechanism underlying all aspects of life."
The growing interest in research on temperament during the last decade has been re corded by several authors (e. g. , R. Plomin; J. E. Bates) from such sources of informa tion as the Social Sciences Citation Index or Psychological Abstracts. The editors' inquiry shows that the number of cases in which the term temperament was used in the title of a paper or in the paper's abstract published in Psychological Abstracts reveals an essential increase in research on temperament. During the years 1975 to 1979, the term temperament was used in the title and/or summary of 173 abstracts (i. e. , 34. 6 publications per year); during the next five years (1980-1984), it was used in 367 abstracts (73. 4 publications per year), whereas in the last five years (1985 to 1989), the term has appeared in 463 abstracts, that is, in 92. 6 publications per year. Even if the review of temperament literature is restricted to those abstracts, it can easily be concluded that temperament is used in different contexts and with different meanings, hardly allowing any comparisons or general statements. One of the consequences of this state of affairs is that our knowledge on temperament does not cumulate despite the increasing research activity in this field. This situation in temperament research motivated the editors to organize a one week workshop on The Diagnosis of Temperament (Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany, September 1987).
This important volume brings together significant findings on the neural bases of spoken language -its processing, use, and organization, including its phylogenetic roots. Employing a potent mix of conceptual and neuroimaging-based approaches, contributors delve deeply into specialized structures of the speech system, locating sensory and cognitive mechanisms involved in listening and comprehension, grasping meanings and storing memories. The novel perspectives revise familiar models by tracing linguistic interactions within and between neural systems, homing in on the brain's semantic network, exploring the neuroscience behind bilingualism and multilingual fluency, and even making a compelling case for a more nuanced participation of the motor system in speech. From these advances, readers have a more three-dimensional picture of the brain-its functional epicenters, its connections, and the whole-as the seat of language in both wellness and disorders. Included in the topics: * The interaction between storage and computation in morphosyntactic processing. * The role of language in structure-dependent cognition. * Multisensory integration in speech processing: neural mechanisms of cross-modal after-effect. * A neurocognitive view of the bilingual brain. * Causal modeling: methods and their application to speech and language. * A word in the hand: the gestural origins of language. Neural Mechanisms of Language presents a sophisticated mix of detail and creative approaches to understanding brain structure and function, giving neuropsychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, cognitive psychologists, and speech/language pathologists new windows onto the research shaping their respective fields.
Originally published in 1928 in the Psyche Miniatures Medical Series, this title was an attempt to bring to the attention of British psychologists and psychiatrists some aspects of the work and thought of French psychologist Charles Blondel. Well known abroad but little known in England at the time, he was professor of Psychology at the University of Strasbourg and founder of a school of 'morbid psychology'. This book contains two papers, the first concerning the theory of the disordered mind and the second deals with the relation between disordered thought and speech. Today it can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.
Classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane (NM) eyeblink response in rabbits is a useful model system for the study of the neurobiology of learning and memory. This paradigm that is so well described on a biological level has also been applied to studies of normal development over the life span and to instances of abnormal developmental phenomena. Eyeblink conditioning has been studied from molecular and neural network perspectives, and the paradigm is of demonstrated utility in elucidating mechanisms in physiology and pharmacology. This model system provides a behavioral paradigm in animals that has a close analog in human behavior. Perspectives of recent developments in human eyeblink classical conditioning research are presented in the companion volume to this book, Eyeblink Classical Conditioning: Applications in Humans.
Olof Dahlback's book breaks new ground for the analysis of crime from a rationality perspective by presenting models and methods that go far beyond those with which researchers have hitherto been equipped. The book examines single crimes, individual criminality, and societal crime, and it discusses thoroughly the general decision theoretical presuppositions necessary for analyzing these various types of crime. An expected utility maximization model for a single discrete choice regarding the commission of a crime is the foundation of most of the analyses presented. A version of this model is developed that permits interpersonal comparisons, and this basic model is used when deriving more complex models of crime as well as when analyzing the potential for such derivations. The rigorous, powerful methods suggested provide considerable opportunities for improving research and for seeing old problems in a new light.
This volume features a collection of essays on consciousness, which has become one of the hot topics at the crossroads between neuroscience, philosophy, and religious studies. Is consciousness something the brain produces? How can we study it? Is there just one type of consciousness or are there different states that can be discriminated? Are so called "higher states of consciousness" that some people report during meditation pointing towards a new understanding of consciousness? Meditation research is a new discipline that shows new inroads into the study of consciousness. If a meditative practice changes brain structure itself this is direct proof of the causal influence of consciousness onto its substrate. If different states of consciousness can be linked with properties and states of the brain this can be used to study consciousness more directly. If the sense of self is modifiable through meditative techniques and this can be objectively shown through neuro-imaging, this has profound implications for our understanding of who we are. Can consciousness, in deep states of meditative absorption, actually access some aspect of reality which we normally don't? Meditation research can potentially foster us with a new access to the phenomenological method in general. This has even been branded with a new catch-phrase: Contemplative Science. It brings together the most modern neuroscientific approach and the most advanced phenomenological methodology of studying the mind from within, through highly skilled self-observation that has gone through many thousand hours of honing the capacity to look carefully, without distraction. This book addresses these issues by bringing together some of the leading researchers and thinkers in the field. The scope of the volume reaches from first person neuroscience to Indian philosophy, from pedagogic applications to epistemological aspects and from compassion meditation to the study of brain activity.
This volume explores and challenges the assumption that behavioral proclivities and pathologies are directly traceable to experience-an assumption that still widely dominates folk psychology as well as the perspective of many mental health practitioners. This tendency continues despite powerful evidence from the field of behavioral genetics that genetic endowment dwarfs other discrete influences on development and psychopathology when extrinsic conditions are not extreme. An interdisciplinary collection, the book uses historical, cultural and clinical perspectives to challenge the longstanding notion of identity as the product of a life-narrative. Although the nativist-empiricist debate has been revivified by recent advances in molecular biology, such ideas date back to the Socratic dialogue on the innate mathematical sense possessed by an illiterate slave. The author takes a philosophical and historical approach in revisiting the writings of select figures from science, medicine, and literature whose insights into the potency of inherited factors in behavior were particularly prescient, and ran contrary to the modern declivity toward the self as narrative. The final part of the volume uses historical and clinical perspectives to help illuminate the elusive concept of innateness, and highlights important ramifications of the revolution in behavioral genetics. Seeking to challenge the clinical utility of the therapeutic narrative rather than the importance of experience per se, the book will ultimately appeal to psychiatrists, psychologists, and academics from various disciplines working across the fields of behavioral genetics, evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, and the history of science.
Dyspraxia is a disorder of voluntary, purposeful, learned movement and is one of the most common sequelae of stroke, head-injury, neoplasm and abnormal ageing. It is also a major complicating factor in the assessment and treatment of acquired language, visual-spatial and other movement disorders. Dyspraxics are found not only in specialist neurological units, but also in rehabilitation centres, general medical and surgical wards, geriatric units and in the community. Despite this there was little systematic discussion of dyspraxia in major texts on stroke, head injury, rehabilitation or movement disorders at the time. Originally published in 1986, one aim of this book was to correct the imbalance in the attention paid to the disorder. The emphasis of the book is practical, dealing with the recognition and assessment of dyspraxic dysfunction, and guidelines and issues in its remediation. Theoretical issues are covered in relation to their bearing on clinical management. It was the standard textbook on the topic for many years and directly relevant at the time to clinicians in the fields of clinical psychology, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, speech therapy, neurology and geriatrics.
The Clinical Neuroscience of Lateralization gives the first comprehensive transdiagnostic overview of the evidence for changes in hemispheric asymmetries in different psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Taking a multidisciplinary perspective informed by both basic science and clinical studies, the authors integrate recent breakthroughs on hemispheric asymmetries in psychology, neuroscience, genetics and comparative research. They give a general introduction to hemispheric asymmetries and the techniques used to assess them, and review the evidence for changes in hemispheric asymmetries in different psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. The book also discusses neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis and highlights the importance of open science in clinical laterality research. Offering a fresh perspective on a longstanding issue in clinical neuroscience, this book will be of great interest for academics, researchers, and students in the fields of clinical and developmental neuroscience, biopsychology and neuropsychology.
Increasingly, global humanitarian efforts are focusing on improving the lives of children. And among the developing world, the African nations are particularly affected by extreme weather conditions, devastating pandemics, and armed conflict. Neurocognitive science offers significant avenues toward bringing needed aid to the continent while creating a template for helping children worldwide. The studies in "Neuropsychology of Children in Africa" clearly illustrate how the brain develops and adjusts in the face of adversity. Contributors span assessment approaches and public health risk factors, and represent established topics and emerging lines of research, including biocultural constructs and genomic technologies. Together, these chapters argue for methodology that is culturally sensitive, scientifically rigorous, consistent, and sustainable. And although the focus is pediatric, the book takes a lifespan approach to prevention and intervention, modeling a universal framework for understanding neurocognitive development. Included in the coverage: Assessment of very young children in Africa in the context of HIV.Psychosocial aspects of malnutrition among African children.Assessment of neuropsychological outcomes in pediatric severe malaria.Neurodisability screening using the Ten Questions questionnaire.The neuropsychology of sickle cell disease in West African children.Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for African children. As a guide to current findings or a springboard for new studies, "Neuropsychology of Children in Africa" is a necessary reference for researchers, policymakers, and diverse professionals in global aid organizations, and across the discipline. "
This book examines the rehabilitation of language disorders in adults, presenting new research, as well as expert insights and perspectives, into this area. The first chapter presents a study on personalised cueing to enhance word finding. Cynthia K. Thompson and her colleagues contribute a chapter describing The Northwestern Naming Battery and its use in examining for verb and noun deficits in stroke-induced and primary progressive aphasia. Heather Harris-Wright and Gilson J. Capilouto examine a multi-level approach to understanding the maintenance of global coherence in aphasia. Kathryn M. Yorkston and colleagues provide discussion on the training of healthcare professionals, and what speech and language pathology and medical education can learn from one another. Yorkston also presents a systematic review asking whether principles of motor learning can enhance retention and transfer of speech skills. Connie A. Tompkins present a single-participant experiment examining generalization of a novel treatment for coarse coding deficit in right hemisphere damage. Finally, Chris Code returns to the topic of apportioning time for aphasia treatment. This book was originally published as a special issue of Aphasiology.
This book presents the latest neuroscience research on mindfulness meditation and provides guidance on how to apply these findings to our work, relationships, health, education and daily lives. Presenting cutting-edge research on the neurological and cognitive changes associated with its practice Tang aims to explain how it reaps positive effects and subsequently, how best to undertake and implement mindfulness practice. Mindfulness neuroscience research integrates theory and methods from eastern contemplative traditions, western psychology and neuroscience, and is based on neuroimaging techniques, physiological measures and behavioural tests. The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation begins by explaining these foundations and then moves on to themes such as the impact of personality and how mindfulness can shape behaviour change, attention and self-control. Finally, the book discusses common misconceptions about mindfulness and challenges in future research endeavours. Written by an expert in the neuroscience of mindfulness this book will be valuable for scholars, researchers and practitioners in psychotherapy and the health sciences working with mindfulness, as well as those studying and working in the fields of neuroscience and neuropsychology.
The meanings and causes of hearing voices that others cannot hear (auditory verbal hallucinations, in psychiatric parlance) have been debated for thousands of years. Voice-hearing has been both revered and condemned, understood as a symptom of disease as well as a source of otherworldly communication. Those hearing voices have been viewed as mystics, potential psychiatric patients or simply just people with unusual experiences, and have been beatified, esteemed or accepted, as well as drugged, burnt or gassed. This book travels from voice-hearing in the ancient world through to contemporary experience, examining how power, politics, gender, medicine and religion have shaped the meaning of hearing voices. Who hears voices today, what these voices are like and their potential impact are comprehensively examined. Cutting edge neuroscience is integrated with current psychological theories to consider what may cause voices and the future of research in voice-hearing is explored.
This is a book about what it feels like to be exceptional - and what it takes to get there. Why can some people achieve greatness when others can't, no matter how hard they try? What are the secrets of long life and happiness? Just how much potential does our species have? In this inspirational book, New Scientist Managing Editor Rowan Hooper takes us on a tour of the peaks of human achievement. We sit down with some of the world's finest minds, from a Nobel-prize winning scientist to a double Booker-prize winning author; we meet people whose power of focus has been the difference between a world record and death; we learn from international opera stars; we go back in time with memory champions, and we explore the transcendent experience of ultrarunners. We meet people who have rebounded from near-death, those who have demonstrated exceptional bravery, and those who have found happiness in the most unexpected ways. Drawing on interviews with a wide range of superhumans as well as those who study them, Hooper assesses the science of peak potential, reviewing the role of genetics alongside the famed 10,000 hours of practice. For anyone who ever felt that they might be able to do something extraordinary in life, for those who simply want to succeed, and for anyone interested in incredible human stories, Superhuman is a must-read.
FINDING INNER SAFETY FIND SAFETY, SECURITY AND PEACE IN THE MODERN WORLD. When we work hard, sometimes we put our mental health on the backburner. Stress, a lack of sleep and other factors can quickly lead to burnout. How can we balance our goals with a peaceful lifestyle? Replace stress, burnout and surviving with resilience, energy-optimisation and thriving. With expert guidance from international author and speaker Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan, you'll learn how to use quick, manageable solutions to make a profound difference to your mindset, energy levels and subsequent productivity. In plain language everybody can understand, Finding Inner Safety will help readers: Learn why we're constantly on the lookout for threats Come to terms with the actual dangers we face Understand the key principles of safety science and strategies for feeling safer and more secure Realise the wisdom we can draw from the natural world around us Make choices that help us thrive, rather than merely survive To lead a peaceful and fulfilling lifestyle, finding safety and security from within yourself is an essential first step. Finding Inner Safety provides practical knowledge, insight, and methods to help you unwind from our modern world in a deeper sense, both at home and at work, without asking you to give up on your ambitious goals.
The Interpretation of Dreams and of Jokes provides a unique and integrative introduction to dream science. It addresses a notable gap in cognitive psychology on the subject of dreams and explores significant overlaps between the phenomena of dreams and jokes. Bringing together extensive research from cognitive psychology, neuroscience and psychoanalysis, the book provides a balanced approach to dream science that is underpinned by experimental and theoretical research. It considers the significance of dreams and their relationships to jokes, examining how both require an understanding of latent content in which context and individual differences play a large part. The book outlines a history of dream research and dream science and includes several original dream extracts for discussion. The book's chapters explore how we can interpret meaning in dreams, how dreams might be indicators of inner psychological and somatic states, whether dreams can be used in problem-solving and the relationship between dreams and aphasia, memory and waking consciousness. This groundbreaking book will be essential reading for researchers and students from psychological and psychoanalytic backgrounds who are interested in the analysis and science of dreams.
This book is an exploration of key systemic and socio-political considerations when working with people whose lives have been impacted by neurological injury and those who care for them. Expert contributors consider the impact of intersectionality across domains that include gender, sexuality, class, education, religion and spirituality, race, culture, and ability/disability. It offers relevant literature in the field of neuropsychology as well as clinical case studies that provide inspiration and key reflections for clinicians, neurological specialist therapists, and medical staff alike. Chapters discuss navigating intersectionality in couple therapy, hidden social inequalities in paediatric neurorehabilitation, racial microaggression in inpatient settings, and more. This book is essential for all health and social-care practitioners working in the field of brain injury and chronic illness who want to challenge the status quo and advocate for diversity and inclusion.
Synaesthesia is a fascinating cognitive phenomenon where one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another. For example, synaesthetes might perceive colours when listening to music, or tastes in the mouth when reading words. This book provides an insight into the idiosyncratic nature of synaesthesia by exploring its relationships with other dimensions of individual differences. Many characteristics of linguistic-colour synaesthetes are covered including personality, temperament, intelligence, creativity, emotionality, attention, memory, imagination, colour perception, body lateralization and gender. Aleksandra Maria Rogowska proposes that linguistic-colour synaesthesia can be considered as an abstract form of a continuous variable in the broader context of cross- and intra-modal associations. There has been a resurgence of interest in synaesthesia and this book will appeal to students and scientists of psychology, cognitive science and social science, and to those who are fascinated by unusual states of mind.
Originally published in 1981, this third volume deals with the empirical data base and the theories concerning visual perception - the set of mental responses to photic stimulation of the eyes. As the book develops, the plan was to present a general taxonomy of visual processes and phenomena. It was hoped that such a general perspective would help to bring some order to the extensive, but largely unorganized, research literature dealing with our immediate perceptual responses to visual stimuli at the time. The specific goal of this work was to provide a classification system that integrates and systematizes the data base of perceptual psychology into a comprehensive intellectual scheme by means of an eclectic, multi-level metatheory invoking several different kinds of explanation.
Everybody eats, and what we eat - or do not - affects the brain and mind. There is significant general, applied, academic, and industry interest about nutrition and the brain, yet there is much misinformation and no single reliable guide. Diet Impacts on Brain and Mind provides a comprehensive account of this emerging multi-disciplinary science, exploring the acute and chronic impacts of human diet on the brain and mind. It has a primarily human focus and is broad in scope, covering wide-ranging topics like brain development, whole diets, specific nutrients, research methodology, and food as a drug. It is written in an accessible format and is of interest to undergraduate and graduate students studying nutritional neuroscience and related disciplines, healthcare professionals with an applied interest, industry researchers seeking topic overviews, and interested general readers.
Neuropsychological research on the neural basis of behavior generally asserts that brain mechanisms ultimately suffice to explain all psychologically described phenomena. This assumption stems from the idea that the brain consists entirely of material particles and fields, and that all causal mechanisms relevant to neuroscience can be formulated solely in terms of properties of these elements. Contemporary basic physical theory differs from classic physics on the important matter of how consciousness of human agents enters into the structure of empirical phenomena. The new principles contradict the older idea that local mechanical processes alone account for the structure of all empirical data. Contemporary physical theory brings directly into the overall causal structure certain psychologically described choices made by human agents about how they will act. This key development in basic physical theory is applicable to neuroscience. This book explores this new framework.
Because of the dearth of experimental animal models of psychiatric disorders, the study of the effect of the disease state is only possible in tissue derived from patients vs. controls, especially in the target tissue of disease-related changes in the brain. The human postmortem brain offers the most appropriate experimental paradigm towards understanding the etiology of psychiatric disorders. The availability of post-mortem human samples from psychiatric patients and comparison groups in recent years has contributed prominently to the accumulating body of information leading to a better understanding of these disorders. This is the first book to summarize this research approach and the meaningful data which has recently been acquired.
This up-to-date summary of research in the field highlights the pivotal role that emotions play in personality formation and social behavior. The authors discuss this research in its historical context, placing current developments within the broader framework of the field's own research history, and that of developmental psychology in general. They treat developmental topics from both the classic age-comparative and normative-descriptive approaches, as well as from an individual differences perspective. |
You may like...
Light in the Darkness - Uncovering Grief…
Kimberly Resch, Brian Ross, …
Hardcover
Maps Of Meaning - The Architecture Of…
Jordan B. Peterson
Paperback
(3)
|