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Cortical memory functions
Cwticul Manory Functions, 8) C. \I. F\IH. Hirkhiuser.
Dudon. IV)?.
aad wide-runeing monoyruph. C. M. I:air uttcmpts hoth u q nthexi~ of nrbtiotb oC crwticd und orgunir&n mid iin wl\nncx upon current conc~ptunlizRtioi1~~ In turgcting buch im ambitious awl. the author nlarshals findings l’rom :I diversity of litwutures. cutting ;I swathe across dilkr~nt ncuroscien~fic Icvcls orc~plnn~~tion. Conmcncinc frotn the “ho~twn-up”end the spectrum. Fuir mw cbliwm prcuad post-~ynnptic cnndidntc mcchitnismh ol‘plusiicitp (Lc\d I. in the nuthor‘b tcrminolu~y) thrwph ~ystcms Iucl unntomy nnd physiology (Lcvcl 1) to an nttcmpt to corrclutc csplanution at thcsc Ic\ds with Jut;t l’rom the “topdown” perspcctixs provided hp neuropsycholopy and cagnitivc psycholog) t Level 21. The text is slso y~rinklcul with rdcrcncw to wider issues such as qucstians of cumputuhility. consciousness nnJ phplagcny. The core subject ol’ the hook is long-term nvxnrwy und. nxwc precisely. how short- nnd long-tcrnl nwnior~ lbnctiuns arc rqwesenttd in the neurd substrate of the wrtcx. The centrd thesis advnnctd is that the projccticm arising in nragnowllulnr pyramidal urruys lower layer Ill and projecting to similur srrqb in loacr Ill clsc~ hcrc fwnl the principal links in ;I scxrnl-stage cortical memory spstcm. Whereas “primary” or “gwcric” nienwr~ filnctiuns are rcprcscnted. uccording to the author. in cortical sites, Fair rcgurds the hippocumpus us king nccxwr~ hoth for the formation of long-term “spwilic” rncmorics und l’or cxtrnding tllc capacityof short-term memory. The IN this dmulating
nicnwry
functions
of
of
author hIghlight the pernicious predilection of neurosaentists for their o\+n 5pecific intellectual patch. often to the cxcluaion of an) considcratlon of others. whether it be the mtnutine of structural detail for the anatomist or the subtletIes of functional complexit) for the physiologist. The author‘s agenda. by contrast. is to hc unashamedly lntcr-dlxiplinar) in his orientation. The publi,hcr statcs that the book is directed at “neLlroph~sioloeists. psychologists. theorists and neural network modelers”. although there is scant reference to neural netuorha in the hook (evxpt briell> in nn appendix). a rather surprising omission given the wide remit which the author delines for h~m\clf and the current level of research actlcit) in the lield of net\\ork simulations of brain function. Ideally. this i\ a book for the tolerant and enthusiastic reader \\hose eclectic tastes correspond wth those of the author: I.C. cortical memory functions m the broadcst scnsc. The hook will also appeal to those who ha\e some \pcclalist background knowledg of the ncuroblologq of memory. Such a background Would enable the reader to e\nluate the book on his or her own terms. extracting those insights \bhlch may he ofheurIstIc value. In addition to the foreign suhjcct matter. the nobice ma) he moreconfused than informed by the combination of Allen content and ;I somcnhat mcxndcrlny style of prose. Ho\~cvcr. the book is prefaced bc an introduction. \I hich serve:, a\ an o\crvicw and guldc IO the author’s pcrcgrinations. and each main section oftext 1spreceded b> an atxtract. useful for conceptual organvation giLen the occasional idiosyncraslcs of semantic How. Fair’\ text \\ill take its place at the margin5 rather than the mainstream of the ncurops~chologlonl Ilternture. Hcnre\cr. of especial interest to psychologists ma! be the authorh‘s stirring attempts to delineate the physiological basis of the phenomena of priming and primacy. SpeculatlLe ncurologlcal accounts are also advanced for such o\tensiblq paycholoyicnl phenomena as catcyorization. abstraction. generalization. noise-resistant word recognition. perceptual constancy and the u5e of analogies and figures of speech. The main strength ofthe book is as an intellectual cattle prod. startling the complacent reader out ofan unhealthy level ofconceptual acceptance. Fair‘s attempts to bridge interdlsclplinary divlalons is commendable. However. not onl> ;,I-c some of the h! pothescs adwnccd b> the author conjectural. but the find~ng,s upon which they are bnscd arc romctimc\ cited out of context. ;I trait of authorship uhich is potentially \eq misleading for the ncophytc. For e~mplc. Fair de\eloph a notion of “extended short-term mcmorq” suhser\ed by the hippocampus. but fuil\ to consider adequatel! the compelllnfe~idence accumulated b) Patricia Goldman-Rakic and her assocates Indicating that the kc! neural htructurcs suhscr\in@“~~)rkitl~” memor) reside In the prefrontal rather than the limbic regions. The \uhject indcu i4 a ltttlc short. and no index of researchers is presented. As in the contents. the index rcficcts an .American hia\. \aith no reference. for example. to the Important and relaant empirical and theoretical \\ork ol Edmund Rolls nnd his colleagueh. To hl\ credit. the author adLances csplicit. tcstablc h! potheses and propotea experiments for aalunting them. Ry wehinf to Integrate kno\aledge from di\ersc fields. the author attempts a rapprochement bctwcen potentially quite isolntcd litcratureb a Inudahle goal in \uch a fragmcntcd field as neuroscience. Furthermore. the pl-oposal of ;I formal rheorctical fr:ume~+ork within which Fair’s prcmiscs can be evaluated I\ particularly beneficial in a lield of enquir! \+hich often brims oker with data but kicks thcor! to orynize these data in a meaningful wa!. JOX.\TH,I% F-OSTIK
Frontal Lobe Function and Dysfunction, Univcrsitk Press. NW \‘orh. IYYI.
EdIted
b!
H. S. LI \I\.
H. hl
EISI \ISI KG and .A. L. BI no\.
Oxford
THIS \oIumc rcprcscnta ihc pi-ocecding~ from ;I conference held at The Llni\crsit) of Texas Medical Branch in Gal\e\ton on I7 18 No\embel19x9 and 15 aimed at ~umninrizlng “ad\nnces in expcrimcntal and clinical raearch on the neurunnatomic organization and functioning of the frontal Iobc”. Such coverage is timeI! as recent de~clopments in \eceral lields ha\e lwought the frontal lobe under closer scrutin!. Thcx advances arc presented in an exciting and Informative WI! In thl5 \\ell-edited ~olumc. Lc\~n. Eisenherg and Benton. atoidinp man! of the pitfalls found in multi-author confcrcncc publicntlonh. have secured focused and updated contrlhution~ fl-om pl-omlncnt In\cstlpators who provide succinct. empirical relit.\\5 in thclr rcspecti\e area. The hook design IS highly polished. F~pures. tables and e\en color rcproductlona clfecti\el) complement the diacubsions and guide the rcadcr through dl\erse paradigms and empirical data. Man! ofthe 2Ochaptcrs arc limited to 15 20 pagea wth helpful aubhcadings and references. The chapters arc organized into nine 5ect1on5 that 5~3~ fairI\ broad areas of interest to inbestipatora and clinicians who WC concerned with the frontal Iobc and its patl;oph~sioloe). Thcsc include historical foundatlona: primate studies in neuroanatomy. ncurophysiologl and lesion elrects on beha\lor; human anatomy and neuroph~\iolo~~: cognition and memory: lntentiunal aapccts 01 motor bcha\iol-: autonomic activation: neurops~chintl-ic disorders: head injury: and development. The title of the rchnbilitatlon scctlon. It may be nryed. is ;I misnomer ~5 the focus M:IS on diminished self-aaarencss rather than rehnhilitation ,wr XL’.Nelerthele55. the chapter rcvicwed an important component of rehabilitation management and thcrc arc other available books dedicated to this topic. The book provided II genuine sense that frontal lobe rcxarch is progressing in a slstcmatic and relined scientilic fashion. The rc~lc\,crscspcciall~ npprcciated ho\\ pre\~ourl> fol-muIatcd ideas L\L’I’Cre-analyxd and intcgratcd uith
Dudon. IV)?.
aad wide-runeing monoyruph. C. M. I:air uttcmpts hoth u q nthexi~ of nrbtiotb oC crwticd und orgunir&n mid iin wl\nncx upon current conc~ptunlizRtioi1~~ In turgcting buch im ambitious awl. the author nlarshals findings l’rom :I diversity of litwutures. cutting ;I swathe across dilkr~nt ncuroscien~fic Icvcls orc~plnn~~tion. Conmcncinc frotn the “ho~twn-up”end the spectrum. Fuir mw cbliwm prcuad post-~ynnptic cnndidntc mcchitnismh ol‘plusiicitp (Lc\d I. in the nuthor‘b tcrminolu~y) thrwph ~ystcms Iucl unntomy nnd physiology (Lcvcl 1) to an nttcmpt to corrclutc csplanution at thcsc Ic\ds with Jut;t l’rom the “topdown” perspcctixs provided hp neuropsycholopy and cagnitivc psycholog) t Level 21. The text is slso y~rinklcul with rdcrcncw to wider issues such as qucstians of cumputuhility. consciousness nnJ phplagcny. The core subject ol’ the hook is long-term nvxnrwy und. nxwc precisely. how short- nnd long-tcrnl nwnior~ lbnctiuns arc rqwesenttd in the neurd substrate of the wrtcx. The centrd thesis advnnctd is that the projccticm arising in nragnowllulnr pyramidal urruys lower layer Ill and projecting to similur srrqb in loacr Ill clsc~ hcrc fwnl the principal links in ;I scxrnl-stage cortical memory spstcm. Whereas “primary” or “gwcric” nienwr~ filnctiuns are rcprcscnted. uccording to the author. in cortical sites, Fair rcgurds the hippocumpus us king nccxwr~ hoth for the formation of long-term “spwilic” rncmorics und l’or cxtrnding tllc capacityof short-term memory. The IN this dmulating
nicnwry
functions
of
of
author hIghlight the pernicious predilection of neurosaentists for their o\+n 5pecific intellectual patch. often to the cxcluaion of an) considcratlon of others. whether it be the mtnutine of structural detail for the anatomist or the subtletIes of functional complexit) for the physiologist. The author‘s agenda. by contrast. is to hc unashamedly lntcr-dlxiplinar) in his orientation. The publi,hcr statcs that the book is directed at “neLlroph~sioloeists. psychologists. theorists and neural network modelers”. although there is scant reference to neural netuorha in the hook (evxpt briell> in nn appendix). a rather surprising omission given the wide remit which the author delines for h~m\clf and the current level of research actlcit) in the lield of net\\ork simulations of brain function. Ideally. this i\ a book for the tolerant and enthusiastic reader \\hose eclectic tastes correspond wth those of the author: I.C. cortical memory functions m the broadcst scnsc. The hook will also appeal to those who ha\e some \pcclalist background knowledg of the ncuroblologq of memory. Such a background Would enable the reader to e\nluate the book on his or her own terms. extracting those insights \bhlch may he ofheurIstIc value. In addition to the foreign suhjcct matter. the nobice ma) he moreconfused than informed by the combination of Allen content and ;I somcnhat mcxndcrlny style of prose. Ho\~cvcr. the book is prefaced bc an introduction. \I hich serve:, a\ an o\crvicw and guldc IO the author’s pcrcgrinations. and each main section oftext 1spreceded b> an atxtract. useful for conceptual organvation giLen the occasional idiosyncraslcs of semantic How. Fair’\ text \\ill take its place at the margin5 rather than the mainstream of the ncurops~chologlonl Ilternture. Hcnre\cr. of especial interest to psychologists ma! be the authorh‘s stirring attempts to delineate the physiological basis of the phenomena of priming and primacy. SpeculatlLe ncurologlcal accounts are also advanced for such o\tensiblq paycholoyicnl phenomena as catcyorization. abstraction. generalization. noise-resistant word recognition. perceptual constancy and the u5e of analogies and figures of speech. The main strength ofthe book is as an intellectual cattle prod. startling the complacent reader out ofan unhealthy level ofconceptual acceptance. Fair‘s attempts to bridge interdlsclplinary divlalons is commendable. However. not onl> ;,I-c some of the h! pothescs adwnccd b> the author conjectural. but the find~ng,s upon which they are bnscd arc romctimc\ cited out of context. ;I trait of authorship uhich is potentially \eq misleading for the ncophytc. For e~mplc. Fair de\eloph a notion of “extended short-term mcmorq” suhser\ed by the hippocampus. but fuil\ to consider adequatel! the compelllnfe~idence accumulated b) Patricia Goldman-Rakic and her assocates Indicating that the kc! neural htructurcs suhscr\in@“~~)rkitl~” memor) reside In the prefrontal rather than the limbic regions. The \uhject indcu i4 a ltttlc short. and no index of researchers is presented. As in the contents. the index rcficcts an .American hia\. \aith no reference. for example. to the Important and relaant empirical and theoretical \\ork ol Edmund Rolls nnd his colleagueh. To hl\ credit. the author adLances csplicit. tcstablc h! potheses and propotea experiments for aalunting them. Ry wehinf to Integrate kno\aledge from di\ersc fields. the author attempts a rapprochement bctwcen potentially quite isolntcd litcratureb a Inudahle goal in \uch a fragmcntcd field as neuroscience. Furthermore. the pl-oposal of ;I formal rheorctical fr:ume~+ork within which Fair’s prcmiscs can be evaluated I\ particularly beneficial in a lield of enquir! \+hich often brims oker with data but kicks thcor! to orynize these data in a meaningful wa!. JOX.\TH,I% F-OSTIK
Frontal Lobe Function and Dysfunction, Univcrsitk Press. NW \‘orh. IYYI.
EdIted
b!
H. S. LI \I\.
H. hl
EISI \ISI KG and .A. L. BI no\.
Oxford
THIS \oIumc rcprcscnta ihc pi-ocecding~ from ;I conference held at The Llni\crsit) of Texas Medical Branch in Gal\e\ton on I7 18 No\embel19x9 and 15 aimed at ~umninrizlng “ad\nnces in expcrimcntal and clinical raearch on the neurunnatomic organization and functioning of the frontal Iobc”. Such coverage is timeI! as recent de~clopments in \eceral lields ha\e lwought the frontal lobe under closer scrutin!. Thcx advances arc presented in an exciting and Informative WI! In thl5 \\ell-edited ~olumc. Lc\~n. Eisenherg and Benton. atoidinp man! of the pitfalls found in multi-author confcrcncc publicntlonh. have secured focused and updated contrlhution~ fl-om pl-omlncnt In\cstlpators who provide succinct. empirical relit.\\5 in thclr rcspecti\e area. The hook design IS highly polished. F~pures. tables and e\en color rcproductlona clfecti\el) complement the diacubsions and guide the rcadcr through dl\erse paradigms and empirical data. Man! ofthe 2Ochaptcrs arc limited to 15 20 pagea wth helpful aubhcadings and references. The chapters arc organized into nine 5ect1on5 that 5~3~ fairI\ broad areas of interest to inbestipatora and clinicians who WC concerned with the frontal Iobc and its patl;oph~sioloe). Thcsc include historical foundatlona: primate studies in neuroanatomy. ncurophysiologl and lesion elrects on beha\lor; human anatomy and neuroph~\iolo~~: cognition and memory: lntentiunal aapccts 01 motor bcha\iol-: autonomic activation: neurops~chintl-ic disorders: head injury: and development. The title of the rchnbilitatlon scctlon. It may be nryed. is ;I misnomer ~5 the focus M:IS on diminished self-aaarencss rather than rehnhilitation ,wr XL’.Nelerthele55. the chapter rcvicwed an important component of rehabilitation management and thcrc arc other available books dedicated to this topic. The book provided II genuine sense that frontal lobe rcxarch is progressing in a slstcmatic and relined scientilic fashion. The rc~lc\,crscspcciall~ npprcciated ho\\ pre\~ourl> fol-muIatcd ideas L\L’I’Cre-analyxd and intcgratcd uith