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Handbook of clinical neuropsychology
TINS - March 1982
95
Behavioral consequences of cerebral dysfunction Handbook of Clinical Neuropsychology edited by Susan B. Filskov and Thomas J. Boll, John Wiley, 1981. £19. 95 (xvii + 806pages) I S B N 0 471 04802 X The study of behavioral consequences of cerebral dysfunction in humans has undergone an explosive growth in the last 25 years. This growth is reflected in a proliferation of scientific journals and books devoted to the many theoretical and applied clinical facets of this area, as well as in a world-wide increase in centers providing specialized diagnostic and rehabilitation services for patients with brain damage. In the U.S.A., psychologists working primarily in neuropsychology far outnumber their neurological colleagues. This book is directed primarily to a psychological readership, but it contains a number of chapters of value to neurologists and members of allied professions. The 24 chapters are divided into five sections: an introductory survey of basic problems; a section devoted to functionally defined areas (language, praxis, memory, drug abuse, epilepsy); one devoted to problems with children; one describing neuropsychological test batteries and procedures; and a final section on professional issues of concern to the psychological practitioner, among them, forensic applications, rehabilitation and standards for training. The chapters are uneven in quality, in the approach to their topics taken by the various contributors, and in their relevance to the section in which they appear. The most successful chapters, presenting well organized and instructive surveys of their topics include the f'trst two, which together constitute a concise review of the clinical phenomena of neuropsychology, their organic basis, and the special role of the discipline of psychology in clinical evaluation and research. Other chapters providing valuable information in particular functional areas are those on language (S. E. Blumstein), on the apraxias (Hecaen), on memory (E. W. Russell), and an outstanding article on the neuropsychology of aging by Botwinik. Parsons and Fan give an authoritative review of the findings on drug abase. Diller and Gordon discuss rehabilitation of the neuropsychologically disabled and Cleeland describes the methods, applications and limitations of biofeedback as a therapeutic tool. The section on test procedures include BoWs description of the Halstead Reitan Battery and Golden's de-
scription of his Luria Nebraska test battery, each buttressed by citations of the success of their batteries in discriminating between clinical groups. Rourke describes a cornprehensive test battery for children, with illustrations of its success in identifying diverse patterns of learning disability. Particularly disappointing are Pribram's chapter on emotion, which presents a novel conceptualization having no discernible
relation to organically-based disorders of affect and Berent's chapter on cerebral dominance, which slights the rich literature on substantive findings in this area. The selection of material is strongly slanted toward the application of large fixed battery test procedures, with disappointingly little space devoted to the psychological analysis of selective deficits. On balance, this book can best be recommended for selective reading as a reference text. HAROLDGOODGLASS Director of Psychology Research, Boston VA Medical Center, 150S, Huntington Avenue. Boston, MA 02130. U.S.A.
Coutaux symposium Ontogenesis and Functional Mechanisms of Peripheral Synapses edited by J. Taxi, Elsevier~NorthHolland Biomedical Press, 1980. $59.00/Dfl. 121.00 (xiii + 396 pages) I S B N 0 444 80246 0 Most appropriately, the retirement of Ren6 Coutaux induced a symposium devoted to recent progress in the study of synaptic mechanisms in the peripheral nervous system. The present volume contains the proceedings of that meeting and provides accounts of most of the recent approaches to the study of the structure, function and development of the peripheral synapses. In a convincing way it demonstrates the 'trophic effects' of Professor Coutaux's contributions to the subsequent development of the field. The application of many new techniques is elegantly illustrated and the reader is led to appreciate the exciting further pos-
sibilities. The peripheral synapses will certainly retain their position as indispensable models of neural activity and properties in general. The contributors to the volume have been critically selected. Several of them are responsible for some of the most exciting recent developments. As one would expect most of the articles are well written and many are illustrated by high quality electron micrographs. Unavoidably, the volume suffers from some of the usual weaknesses of published proceedings of symposia. Most of the material presented has already been published in current journals. Some important aspects of the topic are not represented in the volume and, as usual, it is hard to get used to inflated prices. Nevertheless, the book is good reading for colleagues in the field and a valuable addition to neuroscience libraries. JAN K. s. JANSEN Institute of Physiology, University of Oslo, Karl Johans GT 47. Oslo, Norway.
Unashamedly clinical R e c e n t A d v a n c e s in C l i n i c a l Neurology, No. 3 edited by W. B. Matthews and Gilbert H. Glaser, Churchill Livingstone, 1982. £11.00 (ix + 254 pages) I S B N 0 443 02121 X This is the third volume on Recent Advances in Clinical Neurology to have been edited jointly by Professor Bryan Matthews of Oxford and Professor Gilbert Glaser of Yale. In a volume of just over 250 pages, they have included 12 chapters on topics as diverse as defects of the energy pathways of skeletal muscle (MorganHughes), entrapment neuropathies (Downie), the management of spinal cord injury (Collins and Chetrazi), pain (Nathan), multiple sclerosis (Wisniewski et al.),
Friedreich's ataxia (Barbeau), paediatric neurology (Tonsgard and Huttenlocher). transient cerebral ischaemia (Warlow) and the neurochemistry of ageing and senile dementia (Bowen and Davison). The editors between themselves contribute three chapters, Glaser writing on epilepsy and Matthews on Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease as well as on the treatment of Bell's palsy. Thus, the book has a commendably Anglo-American flavour, seven chapters coming from British authors and five from North America. The individual chapters are very succinct but in general they are clearly written and authoritative. Illustrations are few but generally appropriate; unfortunately, however, the reproduction of some of them leaves much to be desired, as, for example, the photograph of an X-ray on
95
Behavioral consequences of cerebral dysfunction Handbook of Clinical Neuropsychology edited by Susan B. Filskov and Thomas J. Boll, John Wiley, 1981. £19. 95 (xvii + 806pages) I S B N 0 471 04802 X The study of behavioral consequences of cerebral dysfunction in humans has undergone an explosive growth in the last 25 years. This growth is reflected in a proliferation of scientific journals and books devoted to the many theoretical and applied clinical facets of this area, as well as in a world-wide increase in centers providing specialized diagnostic and rehabilitation services for patients with brain damage. In the U.S.A., psychologists working primarily in neuropsychology far outnumber their neurological colleagues. This book is directed primarily to a psychological readership, but it contains a number of chapters of value to neurologists and members of allied professions. The 24 chapters are divided into five sections: an introductory survey of basic problems; a section devoted to functionally defined areas (language, praxis, memory, drug abuse, epilepsy); one devoted to problems with children; one describing neuropsychological test batteries and procedures; and a final section on professional issues of concern to the psychological practitioner, among them, forensic applications, rehabilitation and standards for training. The chapters are uneven in quality, in the approach to their topics taken by the various contributors, and in their relevance to the section in which they appear. The most successful chapters, presenting well organized and instructive surveys of their topics include the f'trst two, which together constitute a concise review of the clinical phenomena of neuropsychology, their organic basis, and the special role of the discipline of psychology in clinical evaluation and research. Other chapters providing valuable information in particular functional areas are those on language (S. E. Blumstein), on the apraxias (Hecaen), on memory (E. W. Russell), and an outstanding article on the neuropsychology of aging by Botwinik. Parsons and Fan give an authoritative review of the findings on drug abase. Diller and Gordon discuss rehabilitation of the neuropsychologically disabled and Cleeland describes the methods, applications and limitations of biofeedback as a therapeutic tool. The section on test procedures include BoWs description of the Halstead Reitan Battery and Golden's de-
scription of his Luria Nebraska test battery, each buttressed by citations of the success of their batteries in discriminating between clinical groups. Rourke describes a cornprehensive test battery for children, with illustrations of its success in identifying diverse patterns of learning disability. Particularly disappointing are Pribram's chapter on emotion, which presents a novel conceptualization having no discernible
relation to organically-based disorders of affect and Berent's chapter on cerebral dominance, which slights the rich literature on substantive findings in this area. The selection of material is strongly slanted toward the application of large fixed battery test procedures, with disappointingly little space devoted to the psychological analysis of selective deficits. On balance, this book can best be recommended for selective reading as a reference text. HAROLDGOODGLASS Director of Psychology Research, Boston VA Medical Center, 150S, Huntington Avenue. Boston, MA 02130. U.S.A.
Coutaux symposium Ontogenesis and Functional Mechanisms of Peripheral Synapses edited by J. Taxi, Elsevier~NorthHolland Biomedical Press, 1980. $59.00/Dfl. 121.00 (xiii + 396 pages) I S B N 0 444 80246 0 Most appropriately, the retirement of Ren6 Coutaux induced a symposium devoted to recent progress in the study of synaptic mechanisms in the peripheral nervous system. The present volume contains the proceedings of that meeting and provides accounts of most of the recent approaches to the study of the structure, function and development of the peripheral synapses. In a convincing way it demonstrates the 'trophic effects' of Professor Coutaux's contributions to the subsequent development of the field. The application of many new techniques is elegantly illustrated and the reader is led to appreciate the exciting further pos-
sibilities. The peripheral synapses will certainly retain their position as indispensable models of neural activity and properties in general. The contributors to the volume have been critically selected. Several of them are responsible for some of the most exciting recent developments. As one would expect most of the articles are well written and many are illustrated by high quality electron micrographs. Unavoidably, the volume suffers from some of the usual weaknesses of published proceedings of symposia. Most of the material presented has already been published in current journals. Some important aspects of the topic are not represented in the volume and, as usual, it is hard to get used to inflated prices. Nevertheless, the book is good reading for colleagues in the field and a valuable addition to neuroscience libraries. JAN K. s. JANSEN Institute of Physiology, University of Oslo, Karl Johans GT 47. Oslo, Norway.
Unashamedly clinical R e c e n t A d v a n c e s in C l i n i c a l Neurology, No. 3 edited by W. B. Matthews and Gilbert H. Glaser, Churchill Livingstone, 1982. £11.00 (ix + 254 pages) I S B N 0 443 02121 X This is the third volume on Recent Advances in Clinical Neurology to have been edited jointly by Professor Bryan Matthews of Oxford and Professor Gilbert Glaser of Yale. In a volume of just over 250 pages, they have included 12 chapters on topics as diverse as defects of the energy pathways of skeletal muscle (MorganHughes), entrapment neuropathies (Downie), the management of spinal cord injury (Collins and Chetrazi), pain (Nathan), multiple sclerosis (Wisniewski et al.),
Friedreich's ataxia (Barbeau), paediatric neurology (Tonsgard and Huttenlocher). transient cerebral ischaemia (Warlow) and the neurochemistry of ageing and senile dementia (Bowen and Davison). The editors between themselves contribute three chapters, Glaser writing on epilepsy and Matthews on Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease as well as on the treatment of Bell's palsy. Thus, the book has a commendably Anglo-American flavour, seven chapters coming from British authors and five from North America. The individual chapters are very succinct but in general they are clearly written and authoritative. Illustrations are few but generally appropriate; unfortunately, however, the reproduction of some of them leaves much to be desired, as, for example, the photograph of an X-ray on