For social primates like us, faces may be the most biologically significant stimuli we view. Faces provide information not only about identity but also about mood, age, sex, and direction of overt attention. Does our ability to extract this information from faces rely on special-purpose cognitive and neural mechanisms distinct from those involved in the perception of other classes of visual stimuli? If so, how do those mechanisms work? Do these mechanisms arise from experience alone, or is there an innate predisposition to create them? How is face recognition affected by development and aging? What is the relation between face recognition and other cognitive functions such as memory and attention and the neural substrates that mediate them? This special issue showcases new findings from many investigators in this field who address these fundamental questions in studies that use a wide range of experimental techniques including brain imaging, ERPs, patient studies, and single-unit recording in monkeys.

Divided into four parts, the first section of this book deals with levels of processing and memory theory, the second addresses working memory and attention, the third deals with cognitive aging, and the last addresses neuroscience perspectives.

Human memory and cognitive aging have been the subject of intense scientific research during the last decades. Numerous advances have been made in explaining the cognitive processes and the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying human memory, and in outlining age-related changes in them. This new volume includes an up-to-date collection of chapters written by authoritative researchers in these fields. The chapters were originally presented in a conference held in May 1999 to mark the retirement of Fergus Craik from the University of Toronto. Craik's contributions in these two areas were at the center of the discussions held. These discussions were related to the history and current status of the influential levels of processing approach (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) as an explanatory framework of memory performance and to Craik's self-initiation/environmental support hypothesis of cognitive aging. Behavioral, as well as neuroimaging data, were brought to bear in evaluating these ideas as well as of others which are central to theories of both memory and cognitive aging.
The volume is divided into four parts, each preceded by introductory comments and followed by a discussion chapter. The first section deals with levels of processing and memory theory, the second addresses working memory and attention, the third deals with cognitive aging, and the last addresses neuroscience perspectives. With the breadth and depth of the topics discussed, the volume will be of interest to any student or researcher interested in human memory and cognitive aging.

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For social primates like us, faces may be the most biologically significant stimuli we view. Faces provide information not only about identity but also mood, age, sex, and direction of overt attention. Does our ability to extract this information from faces rely on special-purpose cognitive and neural mechanisms distinct from those involved in the perception of other classes of visual stimuli? If so, how do those mechanisms work? Do these mechanisms arise from experience alone, or is there an innate predisposition to create them? How is face recognition affected by development and aging? What is the relation between face-recognition and other cognitive functions such as memory and attention and the neural substrates that mediate them? This Special Issue showcases the new findings from many investigators in this field who address these fundamental questions in studies that use a wide range of experimental techniques including brain imaging, ERPs, patient studies, and single-unit recording in monkeys. Among the investigators included in this issue are Ashbridge, Bentin, Eimer, Farah, Gauthier, Kanwisher, Logothetis, Moscovitch, Perrett, Puce, Tippett, and Tong.

The study of infant memory has flourished in the past decade for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the tremendous growth of interest in normal and pathological adult memory that began in the late fifties. Despite its common lineage to other areas of memory research, however, infant memory has perhaps been the least integrated into the mainstream. In reading the literature, one gets a sense of discontinuity between the study of infant memory and memory at all other stages of development from childhood to old age. The reasons for this are not hard to find. The techniques used to study memory in infants are usually very different from those typically used even in children. These techniques often limit the kind of inferences one can draw about the nature of the memory systems under investigation. Even when terms, concepts, and theories from the adult literature are applied to infants, they often bear only a loose relationship to their original usage. For example, an infant who stares longer at a new pattern than an old one is said to "recognize" the old one and to have a memory system that shares many characteristics with a memory system that makes recognition possible in adults. Simi larly, an infant who emits a previously learned response, such as a leg kick, to an old stimulus is said to "recall" that response and to be engaged in processes similar to those of adults who are recalling past events."

The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness is the first of its kind in the field, and its appearance marks a unique time in the history of intellectual inquiry on the topic. After decades during which consciousness was considered beyond the scope of legitimate scientific investigation, consciousness re-emerged as a popular focus of research towards the end of the last century, and it has remained so for nearly 20 years. There are now so many different lines of investigation on consciousness that the time has come when the field may finally benefit from a book that pulls them together and, by juxtaposing them, provides a comprehensive survey of this exciting field. An authoritative desk reference, which will also be suitable as an advanced textbook.

The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness is the first of its kind in the field, and its appearance marks a unique time in the history of intellectual inquiry on the topic. After decades during which consciousness was considered beyond the scope of legitimate scientific investigation, consciousness re-emerged as a popular focus of research towards the end of the last century, and it has remained so for nearly 20 years. There are now so many different lines of investigation on consciousness that the time has come when the field may finally benefit from a book that pulls them together and, by juxtaposing them, provides a comprehensive survey of this exciting field. An authoritative desk reference, which will also be suitable as an advanced textbook.