Several studies have suggested that education and/or literacy may protect not only against the effects of biological aging but also against the clinical manifestation of cerebral neuropathology.

In clinical neuro-psychology, much debate has centered on whether the brain is more likely to degenerate as a result of overuse or underuse. There is a popular belief that an active mental life may delay the cognitive deterioration associated with normal aging. Animal studies also support the concept that environment can influence brain development.

This special issue brings together data from neuro-psychology and neuro-imaging studies, and evoked potentials that analyse the impact of literacy on the functional organization of the adult brain. Discussion of how specific life experiences such as learning how to read and write can change patterns of brain activation and implications of these findings for the theory of cognitive and brain reserve are presented.

Due to worldwide economical and political pressures, millions of people have emigrated in recent decades, and many countries have become increasingly multicultural. Cross-lingual and cross-cultural interactions are growing, both within and across nations. As a consequence, professionals in psychology, psychiatry, neurology and related fields have to take cultural factors into account as they diagnose and treat their patients. Clinicians have to develop cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills to work with clients whose cultural background is different fom their own, a development which poses great theoretical and practical challenges for the field of neuropsychology. This special issue is intended to contribute to the analysis of similarities and diferences in neuropsychological functions from memory span to moral judgement. It also addresses the question of how rehabilitation programs could be composed in different cultural settings. This special issue was accepted under the editorship of Laura Herandez-Guzman.

What distinguishes this book is its broad, yet thorough, view of theory, process, and research on adult second-language reading. Offering extensive discussions of upper-register second-language texts (both expository and narrative) that adult second-language readers encounter daily across the globe, it also presents an assessment schema for second-language text comprehension as well as for the assessment of teaching. Understanding Advanced Second-Language Reading: includes languages other than English in the discussion of second language reading is firmly anchored in a theory of second language reading the concept of compensatory processing emphasizes the multi-dimensionality and dynamic nature of L2 reading development focuses on comprehension of upper-register literary texts balances theory and instructional practices. Filling the need for a coherent, theoretically consistent, and research-based portrait of how literate adolescents and adults comprehend, and learn to comprehend, at greater levels of sophistication and whether that ability can be enhanced by instruction, this is a must-have resource for reading and second-language researchers, students, and teachers.

Neuropsychology has presented a particularly formidable array of devel opments during recent years. The number of methods, theoretical ap proaches, and publications has been steadily increasing, permitting a step-by-step approach to a deeper understanding of the tremendously complex relationships existing between brain and behavior. This volume was planned as a collection of papers that, in one way or another, present new research and clinical perspectives or interpretations about brain-behavior relationships. Some chapters present new research in specific topics, others summarize the evidence for a particular the oretical position, and others simply review the area and suggest new perspectives of research. Consistent with the spirit in which the book was planned, the authors present and propose new avenues for developing neuropsychology and understanding the organization of cognitive activity. Part I is devoted to basic theoretical and technical approaches in studying brain organization of cognitive processes. Hanlon and Brown ("Microgenesis: Historical Review and Current Studies") present an over view of some clinical and experimental work from the standpoint of mi crogenetic theory. Microgenesis is considered to be the structural devel opment of a cognition through qualitatively different stages. The authors discuss the growing dissatisfaction with both the old center and pathway theories and the newer modular or componental accounts. They also ex plore how micro genesis can be extended to the interpretation of symp toms of brain damage in developing a structural model of hierarchic levels through which the process of cognitive function unfolds."

What distinguishes this book is its broad, yet thorough, view of theory, process, and research on adult second-language reading. Offering extensive discussions of upper-register second-language texts (both expository and narrative) that adult second-language readers encounter daily across the globe, it also presents an assessment schema for second-language text comprehension as well as for the assessment of teaching. Understanding Advanced Second-Language Reading: includes languages other than English in the discussion of second language reading is firmly anchored in a theory of second language reading the concept of compensatory processing emphasizes the multi-dimensionality and dynamic nature of L2 reading development focuses on comprehension of upper-register literary texts balances theory and instructional practices. Filling the need for a coherent, theoretically consistent, and research-based portrait of how literate adolescents and adults comprehend, and learn to comprehend, at greater levels of sophistication and whether that ability can be enhanced by instruction, this is a must-have resource for reading and second-language researchers, students, and teachers.