In this book the authors relate and discuss the idea that perceptual processes can be considered at many levels. A phenomenon that appears at one level may not be the same as a superficially similar phenomenon that appears at a different level. For example "induced motion" can be analyzed in terms of eye movements or at the retinal level or at a much higher cognitive level: how do these analyses fit together? The concept of levels also makes us think of the flow of information between levels, which leads to a consideration of the roles of top-down and bottom-up (or feed-forward, feed-back) flow. There are sections devoted to vestibular processing, eye movement processing and processing during brightness perception. The final section covers levels of processing in spatial vision. All scientists and graduate students working in vision will be interested in this book as well as people involved in using visual processes in computer animations, display design or the sensory systems of machines.

This 5th volume of the Appalachian Conference discusses how the brain processes information, the role of memory and value, and models of creativity. It pursues aspects of cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neurodynamics, such as the topic of values and quantum-distributed processing in the brain.

An integrated approach to the problems of vision and vehicle control is presented in this volume.
Current work on all aspects of vision and its relationship to vehicle design is reported on, including the internal and external design of vehicles, visual displays, and the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of the controller of the vehicle. Environmental influences, the effects of alcohol, and visual standards are among the topics discussed. All types of vehicles (including ships and combat aircraft) are considered, though the majority of papers deal with automobiles and their drivers.

This book describes appropriate statistical models that are commonly utilized in neuropsychology. The book discusses such issues as developing normative data for neuropsychological measures, assessing the validity of neuropsychological tests, and quantifying change "over time" through longitudinal analyses. The rationale for and allure of the volume is the fact that there are no publications that dovetail the two subdisciplines of applied statistics and neuropsychology. The overall objective of this book is to provide a pragmatic and concrete source for applying methodological and statistical techniques in research studies whose emphasis includes neuropsychology. Since there are a plethora of technique to arrive at similar answers, each method with its strengths and weaknesses will be delineated. The beauty of the book will be that it will hopefully demystify commonly encountered issues faced with researchers. More specifically, it will provide a "how to do it" approach.

* This ground-breaking book binds together a contemporary understanding of sleep and brain injury. * It pairs empirical understanding through clinical practice with extensive up-to-date research. * The author discusses the neuroanatomy and architecture of sleep, including the need for sleep, definitions of good sleep and what can go wrong with sleep. * The focus then moves to the neuroanatomical damage and dysfunction from brain injury, and the resultant functional effects. * The author then adroitly fuses the two streams of coverage together, focusing on the neurobiological, neurochemical, and functional aspects of both sleep and brain injury to offer new insights as to how they interrelate. * The book then looks towards the applied aspects of treatment and rehabilitation, bringing further thoughts of how, because of this new understanding, we can potentially offer novel treatments for brain injury recovery and sleep problems. * In this final practical section four sleep foundations are given, necessary to optimize the three most common sleep problems and their treatments after brain injury. * This new approach highlights how sleep can affect the specific functional effects of brain injury and how brain injury can exacerbate some of the specific functional effects of sleep problems, thus having the potential to transform the field of neurorehabilitation. * It is essential reading for professionals working with brain injury and postgraduate students in clinical neuropsychology.

Authors are very experienced in the field Techniques are easy to follow and comprehensive allowing therapists to direct families to continue exercises at home Additional printable resources for families Testimonials from families supported by the Total Speech approach are included The advantage of the proposed book is the combining of clinical experience with describing techniques that are not commonly used or acknowledged (i.e. using tactile input in addition to auditory and visual) to support the speech of children with additional or complex needs.

Orienting is the gateway to attention, the first step in processing stimulus information. This volume examines these initial stages of information intake, focusing on the sensory and motivational mechanisms that determine such phenomena as stimulus selection and inhibition, habituation, pre-attentive processing, and expectancy. Psychophysiological methods are emphasized throughout. The contributors consider analyses based on cardiovascular and electrodermal changes, reflex reactions, and neural events in the cortex and subcortex.
Stimulated by a conference lauding Frances Graham -- held before and during a recent meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, the book presents current theory and research by an international cadre of outstanding investigators. A major researcher and theorist in the field of attention for more than three decades, Dr. Graham contributes an Afterword to the present volume which is both a consideration of the work which has gone before, and a new, original theory paper on preattentive processing and attention.

Psychophysical theory exists in two distinct forms -- one ascribes the explanation of phenomena and empirical laws to sensory processes. Context effects arising through the use of particular methods are an unwanted nuisance whose influence must be eliminated so that one isolates the "true" sensory scale. The other considers psychophysics only in terms of cognitive variables such as the judgment strategies induced by instructions and response biases. Sensory factors play a minor role in cognitive approaches.
This work admits the validity of both forms of theory by arguing that the same empirical phenomena should be conceptualized in two alternative, apparently contradictory, ways. This acceptance of opposites is necessary because some empirical phenomena are best explained in terms of sensory processes, while others are best ascribed to central causes.
The complementarity theory stresses the "mutually completing" nature of two distinct models. The first assigns importance to populations of sensory neurons acting in the aggregate and is formulated to deal with sensory effects. The second assigns importance to judgment uncertainty and to the subject strategies induced by experimental procedures. This model is formulated to explain context effects. Throughout the text, the exposition is interlaced with mathematics, graphs, and computer simulations designed to reveal the complementary nature of psychophysical explanations.

Conceived at a time when biological research on aggression and violence was drawn into controversy because of sociopolitical questions about its study, this volume provides an up-to-date account of recent biological studies performed -- mostly on humans. A group of scientists recognized the importance of freedom of inquiry and deemed it vital to address the most promising biological research in the field. The focus on biological mechanisms is not meant to imply that biological variables are paramount as a determinant of violence. Rather, biological variables operate in conjunction with other variables contributing to aggression or violence, and a complete understanding of this phenomenon requires consideration of all influences bearing on it.
This book will familiarize readers with the rapidly growing and increasingly significant body of knowledge on the biological bases of human antisocial, aggressive, and violent behaviors. The editors concentrated on biological influences that support the basic physiological and biochemical processes of the brain and did not cover those biological influences that impact on the health of the individual such as head injury, pregnancy and birth complications, diet, and exposure to lead and other toxins. They focused on biological influences to illuminate their role in the complex behavioral phenomenon of violence.
Three different approaches to the biological study of human antisocial, aggressive, and violent behaviors are represented -- genetic, neurobiological, and biosocial. Representing each of these three approaches, individual chapters from investigators in psychobiology, biological psychiatry, and basic-clinical neurosciences address the most recent experimental findings, methods, theory, and common misconceptions in the biological study of aggression and violence. The areas of primary focus are behavior and molecular genetics, neurochemistry and hormones, neuroimaging, psychophysiology and developmental psychobiology. Generally speaking, investigators following these different approaches have experience in different scientific backgrounds, select different methods, generate different analyses, employ different conceptual definitions for some of the same terms, and assume a different philosophical stance in attempting to explain violence. Nevertheless, all are united in their efforts to understand the biological underpinnings of violence. This book then assumes a comprehensive approach wherein different levels of analysis and different approaches inform each other. It is clear from the studies reported that aggression and violence are multidetermined phenomena and understanding them requires an interdisciplinary approach spanning economic, sociopolitical, psychological, sociological, and criminological as well as biomedical considerations. Nature (biology) and nurture (experience, context) are fundamentally inseparable in explaining aggression and violence; biology may affect experience or context, but experience or context also influences biology. Both need to be studied in a search for explanations of this phenomena.

Our contact with the world is through perception, and therefore the study of the process is of obvious importance and signi?cance. For much of its long history, the study of perception has been con?ned to natural- tic observation. Nonetheless, the phenomena considered worthy of note have not been those that nurture our survival-the veridical features of perception-but the oddities or departures from the common and c- monplace accuracies of perception. With the move from the natural world to the laboratory the oddities of perception multiplied, and they received ever more detailed scrutiny. My general intention is to examine the interpretations of the perc- tual process and its errors throughout history. The emphasis on errors of perception might appear to be a narrow approach, but in fact it enc- passes virtually all perceptual research from the ancients until the present. The constancies of perception have been taken for granted whereas - partures from constancies (errors or illusions) have fostered fascination.

The power of odors to unlock human memory is celebrated in literature and anecdote, but poorly documented by science. Odors -- perhaps more than other stimuli -- are widely believed to evoke vivid and complex past experiences easily. Yet in contrast to the frequency with which odors are thought to evoke memories of the past, scientific evidence is thus far scant.
For years, voluminous data have been collected on odor sensitivity, whereas relatively few studies exist on memory for odors per se. Moreover, the memory data that do exist are thus far only poorly integrated with the most modern attitudes on human memory. The major goal of this volume is to point the way toward a better state of affairs, one in which the study of odor memory is legitimatized as a proper specialization and is informed by the most promising ideas in the mainstream study of memory. This volume explores three tendencies in modern memory theory that have not yet sufficiently penetrated the odor-memory work: memory coding, memory and knowledge, and implicit and explicit memory.

Human Hand Function is a multidisciplinary book that reviews the sensory and motor aspects of normal hand function from both neurophysiological and behavioral perspectives. Lynette Jones and Susan Lederman present hand function as a continuum ranging from activities that are essentially sensory in nature to those that have a strong motor component. They delineate four categories of function along this sensorimotor continuum--tactile sensing, active haptic sensing, prehension, and non-prehensile skilled movements--that they use as a framework for analyzing and synthesizing the results from a broad range of studies that have contributed to our understanding of how the normal human hand functions.
The book begins with a historical overview of research on the hand and a discussion of the hand's evolutionary development in terms of anatomical structure. The subsequent chapters review the research in each of the four categories along the continuum, covering topics such as the intensive spatial, temporal, and thermal sensitivity of the hand, the role of hand movements in recognizing common objects, the control of reaching and grasping movements, and the organization of keyboard skills. Jones and Lederman also examine how sensory and motor function develops in the hand from birth to old age, and how the nature of the end effector (e.g., a single finger or the whole hand) that is used to interact with the environment influences the types of information obtained and the tasks performed. The book closes with an assessment of how basic research on the hand has contributed to an array of more applied domains, including communication systems for the blind, haptic interfaces used in teleoperationand virtual-environment applications, tests used to assess hand impairments, and haptic exploration in art. Human Hand Function will be a valuable resource for student and professional researchers in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, engineering, human-technology interaction, and physiology.

If one envisages neuroscience as a pyramid, with the more mole- lar disciplines forming the base and the more integrative d- ciplines positioned above, then neuropsychology clearly would be near the tip. Neuropsychology seeks to find order in the ultimate product of all neural systems, namely behavior, and to relate that product to its neural substrate. Relationships between brain and behavior are sought, but reductionistic explanations are eschewed. Attempting to "explain" complex behaviors in terms of neuronal activity is no more satisfying than attempting to "explain" artificial intelligence in terms of voltages within a computer's central pr- essing unit. If one is to comprehend the functioning of either the brain or the digital computer, one must know something about not only the structure and mechanics of the device, but also the prin- ples according to which components of the device are organized and the context in which the device is operating (e.g., environm- tal inputs and stored information).

This volume presents a state-of-the-science review of the most promising current European research -- and its historic roots of research -- on complex problem solving (CPS) in Europe. It is an attempt to close the knowledge gap among American scholars regarding the European approach to understanding CPS. Although most of the American researchers are well aware of the fact that CPS has been a very active research area in Europe for quite some time, they do not know any specifics about even the most important research. Part of the reason for this lack of knowledge is undoubtedly the fact that European researchers -- for the most part -- have been rather reluctant to publish their work in English-language journals.
The book concentrates on European research because the basic approach European scholars have taken to studying CPS is very different from one taken by North American researchers. Traditionally, American scholars have been studying CPS in "natural" domains -- physics, reading, writing, and chess playing -- concentrating primarily on exploring novice-expert differences and the acquisition of a complex skill. European scholars, in contrast, have been primarily concerned with problem solving behavior in artificially generated, mostly computerized, complex systems. While the American approach has the advantage of high external validity, the European approach has the advantage of system variables that can be systematically manipulated to reveal the effects of system parameters on CPS behavior. The two approaches are thus best viewed as complementing each other.
This volume contains contributions from four European countries -- Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Germany. As such, it accurately represents the bulk of empirical research on CPS which has been conducted in Europe. An international cooperation started two years ago with the goal of bringing the European research on complex problem solving to the awareness of American scholars. A direct result of that effort, the contributions to this book are both informative and comprehensive.

The usual method for studying mental processes entails taking words in linguistics -- or concepts in logic -- and establishing the connections and relationships between them. Thus, the traditional approach to semantic problems -- those of meaning and understanding -- is through language. Most researchers agree that thought and language are generated by deep-seated semantic structures determined by the structure of the brain. Until now, however, all attempts at constructing semantic models have been made on the basis of linguistic material alone, without taking brain structure into account. Analysis of these models shows them to be as inadequate as those based on the method of the black box.
This book approaches the problem of the organization of higher psychological functions a different way -- by analyzing the functional organization of the neural structures that gradually form universal categories from "raw" sensory material. At the higher levels of the brain's operation, these universals correspond to the basic categories of thought and language. The visual system provides rewarding material for such an approach, both because it is relatively well researched and because it is the main source of sensory information in humans. With this in mind, this monograph examines the whole process of the transformation and description -- the coding of visual information. The most important aspect of this process is the transition from the description of visual space to the description of individual objects and the relationships between them. This transition is made possible by the existence in the visual system of various mechanisms that developed during evolution as a result of environmental influences.
Written for a wide circle of investigators in disciplines associated with different aspects of the functioning of the brain -- physiologists and psychologists -- this book is also of importance to engineers and mathematicians working on the problems of artificial intelligence, and linguists and philosophers interested in the deep structures that form the universals of thought and language.

Although considerable progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of a range of medical disorders, it had recently been pointed out that 85 percent of the population will be stricken by chronic disorders which may be accompanied by many years of suffering.
This volume deals with issues of both cure and risk in chronic illnesses which are among the group of disorders associated with the leading causes of death in the United States at this time -- Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, and cancer. A consideration of the role of brain and behavior in relation to the cure and prevention of these disorders is the central focus of the various chapters in this book. Several chapters discuss the neuropsychological aspects of chronic illnesses including the underlying pathophysiology of changes in the brain which may be associated with both behavioral and physical signs and symptoms in these disorders. Considerable evidence suggests that a range of psychosocial or behavioral factors, such as stressful life events and depression, are associated with increased morbidity or mortality. Complex neurobiological pathways involving the brain, neurotransmitter, and neuroendocrine systems have been implicated. Other chapters consider some of the links among brain, behavior and chronic illnesses, as well as psychological factors such as coping and depression in relation to chronic disorders.
The three leading risk factors known to be associated with both chronic illnesses and death -- diet, tobacco, and alcohol -- are all related to behavioral choices. Sexual behavior can be added to the list in terms of HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency disease (AIDS). Several chapters deal specifically with a consideration of sexual behavior and HIV infection which clearly highlight the need for scientific knowledge in human sexuality if effective long term preventive measures are to be developed while waiting for a vaccine or cure.
The search for cures must continue to have the highest priority in the scientific and clinical struggle against disease. Nonetheless, the value of psychosocial interventions on the quality of life and mental states of seriously ill persons should not be underestimated.

Time, Tradition and Society in Greek Archaeology is an innovative volume which examines the relevance of archaeological theory to classical archaeology. It offers a wideranging overview of classical archaeology, from the Bronze Age to the Classical period and from mainland Greece to Cyprus. Within this framework Spencer examines many of the issues which have become important in the study of archaeology in recent years - time, the `past', gender, ideology, social structure and group identity. The papers in this collection cover such diverse topics as the rural landscape, classical art and scientific methodologies. Over the last century the study of classical archaeology has been orthodox and static. The essays in this collection examine it in the light of current theoretical archaeology and anthropology, making it more relevant and valuable to the study of archaeology in the 1990s. This is a diverse and topical collection, of great value to classicists, ancient historians, anthropologists and everyone interested in new approaches to archaeology.

This volume is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the recent explosion of experimental tools in neuroscience that now make it possible to manipulate, record, and understand neuronal activity within the intact brain, and which are helping us learn how the many neurons that comprise a network act together to control behavior. Leaders in the field discuss the latest developments in optogenetics, functional imaging, circuit mapping, and the application of these tools to complex biological problems.

This new, and heavily revised, edition of Psychopharmacology, provides a comprehensive scientific study of the effects of drugs on the mind and behaviour. With the growing prevalence of psychiatric and behavioral disorders and the rapid advances in the development of new drug therapies, this textbook offers an essential understanding of the necessary details of drug action. The book presents its coverage in the context of the behavioral disorders they are designed to treat, rather than by traditional drug classifications, to strengthen understanding of the underlying physiology and neurochemistry, as well as the approaches to treatment. Each disorder from the major diagnostic categories is discussed from a historical context along with diagnostic criteria and descriptions of typical cases. In addition, what we presently know about the underlying pathology of each disorder is carefully described. Providing a solid foundation in psychology, neuroanatomy and physiology, the book also offers a critical examination of drug claims, as well as coverage of evidence-based alternatives to traditional drug therapies. Throughout, this text discusses how drug effectiveness is measured in both human and animal studies. Topics new to this edition include: a stronger emphasis on the environmental impacts on drug effectiveness; more on the mechanisms of adverse reactions to drugs and information on managing drug side effects; the risks and benefits of using "mood stabilizing drugs" to address behavior in youth with ADHD or ASD; and discussion of the research-to-practice gap in pharmacological care for children and adolescents. Accompanied by a robust companion website of instructor materials, this textbook is ideal for undergraduate and pre-professional students on courses in Psychopharmacology, Clinical Psychopharmacology, Drugs and Behavior. It is a valuable contribution to highlight the symbiotic relationship between psychopharmacology and the neural and behavioral sciences.

This book provides the latest information about the development of intersensory perception -- a topic which has recently begun to receive a great deal of attention from researchers studying the general problem of perceptual development. This interest was inspired after the realization that unimodal perception of sensory information is only the first stage of perceptual processing. Under normal conditions, an organism is faced with multiple, multisensory sources of information and its task is to either select a single relevant source of information or select several sources of information and integrate them. In general, perception and action on the basis of multiple sources of information is more efficient and effective. Before greater efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved, however, the organism must be able to integrate the multiple sources of information. By doing so, the organism can then achieve a coherent and unified percept of the world.
The various chapters in this book examine the developmental origins of intersensory perceptual capacities by presenting the latest research on the development of intersensory perceptual skills in a variety of different species. By adopting a comparative approach to this problem, this volume as a whole helps uncover similarities as well as differences in the mechanisms underlying the development of intersensory integration. In addition, it shows that there is no longer any doubt that intersensory interactions occur right from the beginning of the developmental process, that the nature of these intersensory interactions changes as development progresses, and that early experience contributes in important ways to these changes.

Based on the First Biannual Lifespan Development Conference, this volume offers a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach to the study of lifespan development in the areas of neuropsychology, cognition, behavior genetics, and perception. The objective of the conference was to provide a lively forum for the discussion of issues related to lifespan development and to reflect on important topics challenging the field during the 1990s. The chapters in this book, motivated by the conference presentations, cover:
* the assessment and evaluation of developmental changes in visual perception;
* the contribution of behavioral genetic factors to development;
* the predictability of perinatal risk factors as they relate to cognitive and linguistic outcomes;
* the neuropsychological changes during aging; and
* innovative approaches to the study of cognitive development using neuropsychological testing methods.

This volume deals with the visual perception of lightness, brightness, and transparency of surfaces, both under minimal laboratory conditions and in complex images typical of everyday life. Each chapter analyzes the challenging problem of how a pattern of light intensities on the retina is transformed into the visual experience of varying shades of grey, transparent surfaces, and light and shadow. One important theme which unifies the group of contributions is the recognition that the perception of surface lightness is rooted fundamentally in the encoding of relative intensities of light within the retinal image, not intensities per se. A second important unifying theme is an appreciation of the multiple dimensions of the visual experience of lightness, brightness, and transparency -- people do not perceive the lightness of surfaces by discarding information concerning the light illuminating those surfaces; rather, they perceive a pattern of illumination projected onto a pattern of surface greys.
The long-fascinating problems of surface lightness and color perception have become very active topics recently as a resurging interest within the visual perception community has coincided with an increasing appreciation of the centrality of these problems by the emerging machine vision community. The best of recent psychophysical work on lightness perception, as presented in this volume, will be of great interest to both of these communities. This book also marks a synthesis of old and new. A traditional, strongly Gestalt, approach that had fallen into neglect is updated in the light of new quantitative systematic methods and important later discoveries, such as the disappearance of stabilized retinal images. The book draws on such diverse approaches as Gestalt and ecological psychology, threshold psychophysics, and computational vision, advancing our understanding of the interrelations among surface color, illumination, perceived depth, shading, and transparency.

Positive psychology-the study and promotion of character strengths, positive emotion, optimism, and resilience-has gained considerable momentum and support over the last 20 years. More recently, neuropsychology has begun to embrace related perspectives. In the first edition of Positive Neuropsychology, an extensive collection of perspectives from national leaders in neuropsychology clarified the importance of promoting cognitive health through various means. The present edition expands on the first edition, with four new chapters and updates of all previous chapters. Topics include the importance of physical, social, and intellectual engagement across the lifespan; nutrition and brain health; novel technologies used to maintain brain health and functional independence; compensating for and preventing cognitive limitations; and strategies to promote brain health in clinical and other settings. Chapters reveal not only the benefits of understanding cognitive health and optimal outcomes across the lifespan, but also emerging avenues for practitioners to expand their work into non-traditional settings. Bringing new dimensions to the neuroscience, wellness, and positive psychology literatures, Positive Neuropsychology will interest a wide range of academics and clinicians, including neuropsychologists, clinical and health psychologists, geriatricians, primary care physicians, cognitive neuroscientists, and other healthcare professionals.

This open access book presents a novel multidisciplinary perspective on the importance of human flourishing. The study of the good life or Eudaimonia has been a central concern at least since Aristotelian times. This responds to the common experience that we all seek happiness. Today, we are immersed in a new paradoxical boom, where the pursuit of happiness seems to permeate everything (books, media, organizations, talks), but at the same time, it is nowhere, or at least very difficult to achieve. In fact, it is not easy to even find a consensus regarding the meaning of the word happiness. Seligman (2011), one of the fathers of the positive psychology, confirmed that his original view the meaning he referred to was close to that of Aristotle. But, he recently confessed that he now detests the word happiness, since it is overused and has become almost meaningless. The aim of this open access book is to shed new light on human flourishing through the lenses of neurosciences and health, organizations, and arts. The novelty of this book is to offer a multi-disciplinary perspective on the importance of human flourishing in our lives. The book will examine further how different initiatives, policies and practices create opportunities for generating human flourishing.