When we're thinking about how the brain works, why do we believe that one explanation is better than another? Is the majority view necessarily the correct view? In Controversies in Cognitive Neuroscience, Scott Slotnick tackles the most contentious debates within the exciting and fast-paced field of cognitive neuroscience. Student-focused and sympathetically written, its deep engagement with cutting-edge debates will help you develop your critical thinking skills. Providing evidence from both sides of each debate, the book covers essential topics such as long-term memory, working memory, language, perception, and attention. By helping you to weigh up the evidence and choose the most compelling answer, Controversies in Cognitive Neuroscience will enhance your analytical skills. With its unique debate format and a wealth of illustrations, the book brings to life the key issues that are sparking debate within psychology and neuroscience.

* Takes a unique perspective by examining political ideology and behaviour via evolutionary psychology and genetics to explain conservative and liberal differences * Fascinating reading for students and academics in psychology, the social sciences, and humanities, as well as general readers interested in political behavior * Explores the potential future of political behavior and participation in relation to possible consequences of evolution and genetics

This important book presents a unique, personal account of the impact a mild traumatic brain injury can have. It tells the story of Pauline, who was 33 when a late football tackle caused a bleed in her brain which went undiscovered for 18 months. The account includes descriptions of hidden symptoms of concussion and post-concussion syndrome, pitfalls in diagnoses, the uneven progress of recovery and the effect of the varied reactions which others have to an acquired brain injury. The author incorporates memories alongside extracts from clinic notes, diary entries and emails to reflect the disjointed progress of diagnosis and recovery as- although similar- no two head injuries are the same. Through this book, the reader gains an appreciation of the confusion experienced by many brain injury survivors, which sheds light on why some may develop unusual behavior or mental health issues, and how such issues can be alleviated. Brain injuries are poorly understood by the general public and this can lead to difficult interactions. Moreover, complications in diagnosis means some may not realize they have this milder form of brain injury. This book will enlighten brain injury survivors and affected families and allow professionals an insight into their patients' experiences. As concerns grow over the risks which contact sports pose, this book shows how even mild brain injuries can wreak havoc with careers, relationships and one's sense of self, but that a happy life can still be found.

Originally published in 1991, the recent developments in the study of phonological disorders in children had led to a fruitful interaction between speech pathology and phonology. It is one aspect of the application of linguistic theory to the study of speech and language disorders which had opened up a new field, clinical linguistics. This book brings together the concerns of the linguist and the speech pathologist; the essays chosen share the quality of not discussing theory or therapy without addressing the implications one has for the other. By concentrating on recent work the editor hoped to stimulate further discussion in this important and fast growing area of research.

What assessment tests are available to speech therapists? How are they best used? Originally published in 1993, Assessment in Speech and Language Therapy was designed to guide speech therapists in choosing the most appropriate assessments for evaluation, monitoring and intervention at the time. By providing guidance on defining the issues in assessment, it shows how to make sure that the process will produce a result relevant to the therapist's own needs and those of his or her clients. The major issues involved are discussed in detail, in particular how to make sure that assessments are relevant to individual needs. This title will be invaluable to all speech therapists and clinical psychologists working in this area.

Originally published in 1980, this is a book about the psychology of figurative language. It is however, eclectic and therefore should be of interest to professionals and students in education, linguistics, philosophy, sociolinguistics, and other concerned with meaning and cognition. The editors felt there was a pressing need to bring together the growing empirical efforts of this topic. In a sense, recognition of the theoretical importance of figurative language symbolized the transition from the psycholinguistics of the 1960s to that of the late 1970s, that is from a linguistic semantics to a more comprehensive psychological semantics with a healthy respect for context, inference, world knowledge, and above all creative imagination. The organization of the volume reflects the more basic, general concerns with cognition - from historical and philosophical background, through problems of mental representation and semantic theory, to developmental trends, and to applications in problem solving.

In the years prior to publication 'cures' for stuttering seemed to appear constantly, but many were of limited value, were poorly evaluated and gave only a temporary alleviation that was not transferred to daily life. More responsible clinicians produced publications expounding one particular approach to therapy but less was available giving a balanced overview which was of practical help to therapists. Originally published in 1983, this book aimed to provide such an overview, with a focus on practical intervention rather than on theory. The need for careful assessment is particularly stressed and also the need for flexibility in the choice of treatment for any one client. Changes in fluency are looked at in relation to the effects they might have on the person's life as a whole and factors involved in the maintenance of this change are discussed. In addition, adjuncts to speech therapy, such as drugs, hypnosis and various forms of masking are evaluated. Issues of the training of therapists are raised and suggestions made as to the nature of the therapeutic relationship when working with people who stutter.

This book is essential for anyone interested in learning about the therapeutic potential of orthodox and state-of-the-art supports for autistics. Using research evidence, supports are rated using a Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Tin category system. 'Gold' is extremely promising and use with confidence, whereas 'Tin' is extremely unsafe and potentially life threatening. This book, however, is more complex than just presenting literature reviews about supports for autistics and then rating the efficacy of the support. In addition to this, the insights and experiences of autistics about the autism supports examined are presented. Such testimonials provide an insider perspective from those who ultimately stand to benefit or suffer after receiving a support - namely autistics themselves.

The prefrontal cortex makes up almost a third of the human brain, and it expanded dramatically during primate evolution.
The Neurobiology of the Prefrontal Cortex presents a new theory about its fundamental function. In this important new book, the authors argue that primate-specific parts of the prefrontal cortex evolved to reduce errors in foraging choices, so that our ancestors could overcome periodic food shortages. This evolutionary development laid the foundation for working out problems in our imagination, which resulted in the origin of insights that allow humans to avoid errors entirely, at least at times.
In the book, the authors detail which parts of the prefrontal cortex evolved exclusively in primates, how its connections explain why the prefrontal cortex alone can perform its function, and why other parts of the brain cannot do what the prefrontal cortex does. Based on an analysis of its evolutionary history, the book uses evidence from lesion, imaging, and cell-recording experiments to argue that the primate prefrontal cortex generates goals from a current behavioural context and that it can do so on the basis of single events. As a result, the prefrontal cortex uses the attentive control of behaviour to augment an older general-purpose learning system, one that evolved very early in the history of animals. This older system learns slowly and cumulatively over many experiences based on reinforcement. The authors argue that a new learning system evolved in primates at a particular time and place in their history, that it did so to decrease the errors inherent in the older learning system, and that severe volatility of food resources provided the driving force for these developments.
Written by two leading brain scientists, the Neurobiology of the Prefrontal Cortex is an important contribution to our understanding of the evolution and functioning of the human brain.

Psychophysiological Methods in Language Research: Rethinking Embodiment in Studies of Linguistic Behaviors by Bahiyyih Hardacre is a guide for adopting a transdisciplinary and multidimensional approach to language research. Language research areas that could benefit from psychophysiological methods are first/second/foreign language learning, teaching, use, assessment, performance, anxiety, motivation, attitudes, ideologies, perceptions, and identities, among others. To aid researchers in deciding on a suitable physiological measurement method, this book provides an overview of each of the most popular physiological measurements today, along with their potential applications in language research. Bahiyyih Hardacre explains what each of the physiological methods can tell us, illustrates how each physiological method can inform language research by citing a few language studies that used that particular measurement, and provides information about the appropriate procedures for data collection and data processing.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bernstein was one of the great neuroscientists of the twentieth century and highly respected by Western scientists even though most have never read his most important book entitled On the Construction of Movements. Bernstein's Construction of Movements: The Original Text and Commentaries is the first English translation. It supplements the translated text with a series of commentaries by scientists who knew Bernstein personally, as well as leaders in related fields including physics, motor control, and biomechanics. While written in 1947, Bernstein's book is anything but obsolete, making this English translation and accompanying commentaries an invaluable text. The translated original text presents in detail Bernstein's views on the evolutionary history of biological movement and his multi-level hierarchical scheme of the construction of movements in higher animals, including humans. The following commentaries address Bernstein's personality, the history of the book, and current views on different aspects of neuroscience covered in Bernstein's text. Ultimately, they present "a book within the book" to showcase how Bernstein's heritage has developed over the past years. This classic, available for the first time to an English-speaking audience, will prove beneficial to students, instructors, and experts of neuroscience, physics, neurophysiology, motor control, motor rehabilitation, biomechanics, dynamical systems, and related fields.

* Takes a unique perspective by examining political ideology and behaviour via evolutionary psychology and genetics to explain conservative and liberal differences * Fascinating reading for students and academics in psychology, the social sciences, and humanities, as well as general readers interested in political behavior * Explores the potential future of political behavior and participation in relation to possible consequences of evolution and genetics

This book challenges professional and public misconceptions of schizophrenia as an illness with intractable symptoms and inexorable mental deterioration, educating clinicians and researchers on the effectiveness of treatment to change the course of or prevent the onset of illness. The authors illustrate such effectiveness through fifteen case studies examining psychosis in diverse clients. These case studies are divided into the three phases of the illness-prodromal/clinical high risk, first-episode, chronic, and treatment-refractory-with accompanying analyses of the causes, symptoms, interventions and treatments. By depicting patients at different clinical stages of the illness, with accompanying explanations of how they got to that point, what might have been done to avoid - or has been done to achieve - this outcome, the reader will gain an appreciation of the nature of the illness and for the therapeutic potential of currently available treatments. Readers will learn about the various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and treatment including diagnosis, prognosis, clinical presentation, suicide risk, cognitive deficits, stigma, medication management, and psychosocial interventions.

This book challenges professional and public misconceptions of schizophrenia as an illness with intractable symptoms and inexorable mental deterioration, educating clinicians and researchers on the effectiveness of treatment to change the course of or prevent the onset of illness. The authors illustrate such effectiveness through fifteen case studies examining psychosis in diverse clients. These case studies are divided into the three phases of the illness-prodromal/clinical high risk, first-episode, chronic, and treatment-refractory-with accompanying analyses of the causes, symptoms, interventions and treatments. By depicting patients at different clinical stages of the illness, with accompanying explanations of how they got to that point, what might have been done to avoid - or has been done to achieve - this outcome, the reader will gain an appreciation of the nature of the illness and for the therapeutic potential of currently available treatments. Readers will learn about the various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and treatment including diagnosis, prognosis, clinical presentation, suicide risk, cognitive deficits, stigma, medication management, and psychosocial interventions.

This treatise presents and defends a new theory of humour, one designed to cover all examples of all types and to provide the foundations for a full account of the global phenomenon. Incongruity theory and the new theory are contrary in the strict logical sense of the term. Hence a determined effort is made to demonstrate that incogruity theory in general, in all its forms, fails. Among the topics covered are: the anti-essentialist approach; the concept of a humour process and that of the basic humour process; the subjective character of humour; the laughter of humour, relaxation and pleasure; humour and organic evolution; elementary incongruity theory; incongruity-and-resolution theory; the fantasy element in humour and "funny incongruity"; the notion of "local logic" in humour; the precise locus of the mystery of humour; the remarkable appeal of incongruity theory; psychological experiments in incongruity theory; Kant's and Koestler's theories of humour; and the current state of research into the basic humour process.

The ability to use tools is a distinguishing feature of human beings. It represents a complex psychomotor activity that we are only now beginning to comprehend. Robust new theoretical accounts allow us to better understand how people use tools and explain differences in human and animal tool use from the perspective of cognitive science. Our understanding needs to be grounded upon research into how people use tools, which draws upon many disciplines, from ergonomics to anthropology to cognitive science to neuropsychology. Cognition and Tool Use: Forms of Engagement in Human and Animal Use of Tools presents a single coherent account of human tool use as a complex psychomotor activity. It explains how people use tools and how this activity can succeed or fail, then describes the design and development of usable tools. This book considers contemporary tool use in domains such as surgery, and considers future developments in human-computer interfaces, such as haptic virtual reality and tangible user interfaces. No other single text brings together the research from the different disciplines, ranging from archaeology and anthropology to psychology and ergonomics, which contribute to this topic. Graduate students, professionals, and researchers will find this guide to be invaluable.

The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the way in which the two hemispheres of the brain interact. Some chapters address the nature of this interaction, the anatomical substrates that may account for greater or lesser hemispheric interaction, and the role of sex and handedness in hemispheric interaction. Others address the use of different experimental methods and clinical populations to understand the nature of hemispheric interaction. In addition to current research, this book also provides an important historical overview of the early research questions about hemispheric function and interaction that have helped to shape current views of and approaches to the study of brain function. Special coverage includes: * a comprehensive history of early research on cerebral laterality and hemispheric communication, including work by Pavlov; * a critical analysis of techniques and methologies to study hemispheric communication; * research on anatomical substrates which may underly functional differences between hemispheres and hemispheric communication; * implications of handedness for hemispheric communication; * research on individual differences in hemispheric function; * comprehensive research on sex and handedness from physiological, anatomical, and functional perspectives; and * attentional differences in hemispheric function.

Designing Presence offers a unique insight into the training that has helped people around the world to cultivate more presence in both professional and personal settings. It explains the research behind the method of Towards Vivencia, shares stories of how it has been implemented and offers practical exercises to apply it in any context. Presence is something that is often talked about but is difficult to pin down. We have all experienced moments when we felt one with what we are doing and with our environment. However, this feeling is usually fleeting and we don't know when or how we will experience it again. Towards Vivencia is the first methodology of its kind to train performers to locate and replicate that specific state of consciousness associated with presence and peak performance. Based on over 20 years of experience, combined with research in anthropology, philosophy and the latest advances in neuroscience, Towards Vivencia enables performers to become fully engaged with their experience in order to operate at their highest possible level. This book aims to equip readers with the ability to actively design their experiences and create lasting changes not only in how they approach performance but also how they approach their everyday lives.

According to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 14.4 million adults aged 18 and older had alcohol use disorder (AUD). Mixing alcohol with other drugs such as opioids or cocaine has become an emerging trend, exacerbating public health concerns and may synergistically augment the seriousness of the adverse effects such as withdrawal symptoms, cardiovascular disorders, liver damage, reproductive abnormalities, and behavioral abnormalities. Despite the seriousness of the situation, possible mechanisms underlying the addiction and the withdrawal symptoms is not yet understood. This has been one of the key hindrances in developing effective treatment. Neurobiology of Alcohol and the Brain addresses the addiction-related problems reviewing both the mechanisms and withdrawal system with alcohol addiction. First, the book discusses the mechanisms of the rewarding and aversive effects, including addiction and the withdrawal symptoms of alcohol drinking. Next, alcohol's interaction with other drugs and ensuing adverse consequences is discussed including current and novel treatments against alcoholism. This is followed by a closer look at mental health and alcohol use disorder comorbidity. Lastly, the reader is provided with examples of an experimental study that describes possible protective effects of gold nanoparticles against alcohol addiction in rats subjected to alcohol self-administration. Neurobiology of Alcohol and the Brain will unlock the mechanistic diversities of alcoholism helping to facilitate future developments of new, personalized treatment options for patients suffering from alcohol addiction.

Originally published in 1986, this stimulating and unorthodox book integrates the major findings of hemispheric research with the larger questions of how the brain stores and transmits information - the 'brain code'. Norman Cook emphasizes how the two cerebral hemispheres communicate information over the corpus callosum, the largest single nerve tract of the human brain. Excitatory mechanisms are involved in the duplication of information between the hemispheres; in contrast, inhibitory mechanisms are implicated in the production of hemispheric asymmetries and, crucially, in high-level cognitive phenomena such as the right hemisphere's role in providing the 'context' within which left hemispheric verbal information is placed. These callosal mechanisms of information transfer are not only fundamental to the brain code; they are the simplest and most easily demonstrated ways in which the neocortex 'talks to itself'. The Brain Code demonstrates how popular topics within psychology at the time, such as laterality, hemisphere differences and the psychology of left and right, are central to further progress in understanding the human brain. This book provides stimulating reading for students of psychology, artificial intelligence and neurophysiology, as well as anyone interested in the broader question of how the brain works.

For the 25 years before publication a form of therapy known as the 'Doman-Delacato Techniques' had been applied to children with disabilities. The therapy originated from the work of Glen Doman and Carl Delacato who established the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia. The institutes claim to be able to treat a wide range of disabilities, and their best known technique is called 'Patterning' and is prescribed for children who have no capacity for voluntary movement. Yet many professional bodies and associations have denounced the approach as overly-expensive, ineffective, creating false hopes, being destructive to family life and based on false theoretical assumptions. Originally published in 1988, this book was the first to offer a detailed analysis and critique of the Doman-Delacato approach. The author draws on data from evolution, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology to challenge its theoretical assumptions. He shows that there is no sound scientific basis to the techniques. Any improvements in a child's condition can be attributed to the increased energy and attention given to that child, rather than the content of the programme. At the same time parents become emotionally ransomed and deluded by false expectations. Written in a style that will be accessible to non-specialists, the book is an important work for both parents and professionals concerned with the welfare of neurologically-impaired children.

Originally published in 1987, Aphasia Therapy surveys the approaches to aphasia treatment from throughout the world that have been taken both in the past and in the present day. The authors critically examine the assumptions underlying different approaches, and show their effects on modern clinical practices. Finally, the book offers new perspectives on some contemporary issues in aphasia therapy, the effectiveness of treatment, and the relationship between an analysis of a patient's problems and the processes of treatment. Aphasia Therapy is divided into three parts: Part 1 illustrates some approaches to treatment in the period up to World War II - for instance, a didactic approach which emphasised the importance of repetition; the second part considers the different kinds of approaches to therapy that have developed since then - seven "schools" of treatment are identified; Part 3 considers whether there is evidence that treatment of aphasia is effective: the authors argue that in future, aphasia treatment must involve the development and evaluation of specific treatment methods that are theoretically motivated by a coherent analysis of the individual patient's problems. Students, postgraduates, and practising clinicians in speech therapy will find this volume of great interest, as will neuropsychologists and clinical psychologists.

Originally published in 1982, about 50 years after the publication of Lashley's Brain Mechanisms and Intelligence. The aim of this book was to review Lashley's major contributions and to trace the development of physiological psychology through the experimental work of Lashley's students and colleagues and those influenced by Lashley's writings. The contributors were invited to review their own experimental work in a lecture and to indicate how Lashley's seminal contributions might have exerted an influence in shaping or directing their thinking. This volume is the result of their efforts.

Originally published in 1987, interest in mathematical cognition was not new in psychology. However, it was rediscovered in the 1970s under the influential work of the Genevan School. In particular, Piaget's work on conservation, including conservation of number, profoundly influenced developmental psychologists who, working first in the Piagetian theoretical framework, began to discover a broader set of topics in mathematical cognition. In developmental psychology, the field continued to expand and covered a wide range of topics. During the same period, however, no such evolution occurred in neuropsychology, and except for some studies around the time of publication, very little had been published on acalculia and number processing disorders. However, a more general theoretical evolution occurred in neuropsychology, mainly due to increasing collaboration between clinical and experimental neuropsychologists, on the one hand and cognitive psychologists on the other. The objective of this book was to promote an evolution in the neuropsychology of calculation and number processing deficits and thus to introduce clinical and experimental neuropsychologists, as well as developmental and cognitive psychologists, to recent research and theoretical approaches that are of particular interest for the neuropsychological approach to mathematical cognition.

Originally published in 1989, presenting a new perspective on cognitive therapy in neuropsychology, these papers examine a cognitively-oriented, single-case methodology in neuropsychological rehabilitation. The recommended strategy is in-depth analysis of the precise nature of the impaired as well as the preserved processing components in the individual patient. The objective is to design a therapeutic course based on individual patient needs that is justified by the theoretical interpretation of the location of the deficit in his or her cognitive architecture.