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Handbook of neuropsychology
Acta Psychologica 84 (1993) 199-207 North-Holland
199
Book reviews Handbook of Neuropsychology Series Editors: F. Boiler and J. Grafman. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam. Volume W, 1991, p. xiv + 383 pages. Section 7: R.D. Nebes (Ed.), The Commisurotomized Brain, Section 8: Part 1: S. Corkin (Ed.), Aging and Dementia. Volume V, 1991, p. xiv + 395 pages. Section 8: Part 2: S. Corkin (Ed.), Aging and Dementia. Section 9: J. Grafman and F. Boller (Eds), Cognitive, Methodological Practical Approaches.
and
At an earlier occasion, I reviewed the first three volumes of the Handbook of Neuropsychology. In that review I made some general comments with respect to the place of neuropsychology as a scientific discipline and also concerning the general approach within sections and chapters in different volumes of this series. The interested reader is kindly referred to this earlier review (Eling, 1992) for this type of comments, since they apply to the present two volumes as well. I will therefore restrict myself to a discussion of the three sections of these two volumes. In Section 7 seven chapters are compiled under the title of The Commisurotomized Brain. Split brain studies certainly are to a great extent responsible for the popularity of the neuropsychological approach in the early sixties. Some authors who contributed to the first developments in this area, frequently under the stimulating guidance of Roger Sperry, also wrote chapters for this handbook. Among them are Nebes (presenting an overview of relevant topics), Gordon (on the effects - or rather the surprising absence of them - of partial sections of the corpus callosum), Eran Zaidel (on language capacities of the isolated right and left hemisphere) and Dahlia Zaidel (describing memory and spatial capacities of the two hemispheres). As in earlier sections, also in this section a chapter is included devoted to animal studies, written by Berlucchi. Rather than evaluating the consequences of splitting the brain, Trevarthen attempts to infer form split brain studies the possible role of information transmission across the corpus callosum. The most remarkable feature of patients who underwent commisurotomy remains the fact that only with sophisticated experimental techniques effects can be OOOl-6918/93/$06.00 0 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved
200
Book relliews
demonstrated. At first sight, patients appear intact and normal. Ieeves’ review of studies on subjects, in which the corpus callosum did not develop during ontogeny, also makes one believe that the corpus callosum only serves ‘to keep the two hemispheres together’. For those, who believe that localisation is (still) an important feature of neuropsychological research, these chapters provide an important and enlightening review of our current understanding of the capacities of each hemisphere. While lateral@ was the most popular topic in neuropsychological journals in the sixties and seventies, aging and dementia seem to have taken its place now. No less than 24 chapters are devoted to this theme in section 8, approximately 480 pages which is similar to an entire volume! One may wonder whether this fact reflects the unique potentialities of aging and age-related disorders for our understanding of the functioning of the brain or whether other factors play an important role. It is clear that our society faces the rapid growth of the number of aging adults and that an increasing number of individuals will require a psychological assessment of their mental functioning. It is also clear that many neurological disorders occur at a later age. However, this in itself does not imply that aging and dementia provide us with important opportunities to study brain-behavior relationships. Against this background it can be argued that at least some of the chapters would perhaps be appropriate in a handbook on aging, but their presence in a handbook of neuropsychology is somewhat surprising. For instance, the first five chapters of Volume 5 (epidemiology, methodological issues in the subgroups approach of dementia, pathological and chemical correlates, principles of nuclear magnetic resonance and pharmacological treatment strategies in dementia) are hardly neuropsychological in nature. On the other hand, a chapter on the central issue of ‘cognitive slowing’ in normal and pathological aging is clearly missing. Also, the current trend of equating more or less dementia with Alzheimer’s Disease, neglecting other patterns of progressive, dementing diseases, is reflected in this volume. A number of chapters deal with sensory functions and a wide range of cognitive areas, both in normal aging and dementia. With regard to typical age-related neurological syndromes one finds chapters on Parkinson’s Disease and Huntington’s Disease. Also a chapter on the neurology and neuropsychology of HIV-infection is included. The title of section 9 - Cognitive, Methodological and Practical Approaches - reveals to some extent that the 4 chapters in this section do not forr- a coherent set. Olson and Caramazza argue that the study of brain-behavior relations should be based on a cognitive theory. Vallar discusses the well-known problems of symptom versus function localization, and the issue of single case versus group studies. These issues were also addressed in the methodological chapter of Sergent in Volume I. Caplan’s chapter on syntactic comprehension in aphasia forms an important addition to the chapters of
Book reviews
201
section 3 on aphasia. Roller et al.‘s chapter closes the chapters on neuropsychology in adults by describing shortly what neuropsychologists do in daily practice. The two forthcoming volumes are dedicated to issues in developmental neurpsychology. This gives me the opportunity to close this review with a general impression of the adult part. If one compares these 5 volumes with the two volumes of the Handbook of Neurology which were dedicated to neuropsychology in the sixties, it is clear that the field has grown rapidly. The number of phenomena and syndromes studied within a neuropsychological framework has increased. Cognitive psychology has had an overwhelming influence on the approach of these issues and although at first neurologists dominated the scene, the number of psychologists in this area is large and still growing. Researchers with a neuroscience background have developed some interest in cognitive disorders following brain disorders and their work is also incorporated in current neuropsychological theories. These general trends are clearly reflected in the different volumes of the Handbook. However, apart from becoming a respectable area of research, neuropsychology has also entered the clinical settings, providing alternative opportunities for evaluating the effects of brain lesions on cognitive functioning and indeed also other aspects of behaviour. Moreover, during the last decade much effort has been put into developing neuropsychologically oriented rehabilitation programmes. Although these attempts are clearly in an initial phase, clinical neuropsychologists are very much interested and orienting themselves in these areas. If neuropsychology is going to have an impact on the training of physicians, psychologists and other health-related personnel, as Roller et al. argue in their last chapter, then these students need to know how neuropsychological insights can be translated into clinical procedures. A number of chapters address clinical issues, assessment and treatment, but in general clinical neuropsychologists will find it difficult to incorporate the knowledge contained in the different chapters into their daily activities. For researchers, however, the five volumes provide a thorough overview of practically all relevant areas, giving not simple state-of-the-art conclusions, but more extensive discussions of different viewpoints. To me, this is the most attractive feature of this series and makes it relevant to not just the neuropsychologists, but anyone who has a scientific interest in psychological functioning of the brain. Paul Eling Dept. of Psychology Universityof Nijrnegen P.0. x30x 9104 6500 HE N$negen lIhe Netherlands
202
Book reGews
Reference Eling, P., 1992. Book review of Handbook Psychologica 79, 79-83.
of Neuropsychology,
Vols.
1, 2 and 3. Acta
Themes in movement
David A. Rosenbaum, Human Motor Control. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1991.411 pp. ISBN o-12-597300-4. The study of motor control is currently extremely active and fruitful. Intriguing contributions and new insights are emerging not only from experimental psychology, human performance and cognitive psychology, but also from neuroscience and biomechanics, as well as from computer science and robotics. The multidisciplinary, and increasingly interdisciplinary attacks on the multi-level phenomena that are so typical of motor control, have recently resulted in its introduction into cognitive science, as is evidenced by chapters on movement and action in several textbooks (e.g., Posner, 1989; Osherson et al., 1990). Indeed, the behavioral aspects of movement research were formerly somewhat scanty and far less integrated both with the low-level neurophysiological aspects of movement research and with the high-level forms of cognition as studied in the research of perception and language. The current research approaches (involving cognitive, computational and neuroscience aspects) have much in common with the rest of cognitive science and their further integration with the latter is increased each year. Not only is the field of motor control dynamic, large, and diversified, there also are many levels of discourse, each with its own concepts and methodology. How should an undergraduate be introduced to this complex, dynamic diversity? Rosenbaum, who is a thoroughbred experimental psychologist with a major bias towards macroscopic aspects of motor control, has opted for a theme-oriented presentation with adequate attention to neurophysiology and biomechanics as explanatory principles, but avoiding complexity and too much detail, and escaping technical and formal presentations wherever po6ble. The result is an impressive, broad and well-written account in which the essential questions are clearly posed and the important behavioral and neurological issues are introduced and explained. This is done mainly in the context of seven selected movement themes. The first part of the book presents some ‘preliminaries’ in the form of an introductory chapter formulating four core problems to be solved in motor
199
Book reviews Handbook of Neuropsychology Series Editors: F. Boiler and J. Grafman. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam. Volume W, 1991, p. xiv + 383 pages. Section 7: R.D. Nebes (Ed.), The Commisurotomized Brain, Section 8: Part 1: S. Corkin (Ed.), Aging and Dementia. Volume V, 1991, p. xiv + 395 pages. Section 8: Part 2: S. Corkin (Ed.), Aging and Dementia. Section 9: J. Grafman and F. Boller (Eds), Cognitive, Methodological Practical Approaches.
and
At an earlier occasion, I reviewed the first three volumes of the Handbook of Neuropsychology. In that review I made some general comments with respect to the place of neuropsychology as a scientific discipline and also concerning the general approach within sections and chapters in different volumes of this series. The interested reader is kindly referred to this earlier review (Eling, 1992) for this type of comments, since they apply to the present two volumes as well. I will therefore restrict myself to a discussion of the three sections of these two volumes. In Section 7 seven chapters are compiled under the title of The Commisurotomized Brain. Split brain studies certainly are to a great extent responsible for the popularity of the neuropsychological approach in the early sixties. Some authors who contributed to the first developments in this area, frequently under the stimulating guidance of Roger Sperry, also wrote chapters for this handbook. Among them are Nebes (presenting an overview of relevant topics), Gordon (on the effects - or rather the surprising absence of them - of partial sections of the corpus callosum), Eran Zaidel (on language capacities of the isolated right and left hemisphere) and Dahlia Zaidel (describing memory and spatial capacities of the two hemispheres). As in earlier sections, also in this section a chapter is included devoted to animal studies, written by Berlucchi. Rather than evaluating the consequences of splitting the brain, Trevarthen attempts to infer form split brain studies the possible role of information transmission across the corpus callosum. The most remarkable feature of patients who underwent commisurotomy remains the fact that only with sophisticated experimental techniques effects can be OOOl-6918/93/$06.00 0 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved
200
Book relliews
demonstrated. At first sight, patients appear intact and normal. Ieeves’ review of studies on subjects, in which the corpus callosum did not develop during ontogeny, also makes one believe that the corpus callosum only serves ‘to keep the two hemispheres together’. For those, who believe that localisation is (still) an important feature of neuropsychological research, these chapters provide an important and enlightening review of our current understanding of the capacities of each hemisphere. While lateral@ was the most popular topic in neuropsychological journals in the sixties and seventies, aging and dementia seem to have taken its place now. No less than 24 chapters are devoted to this theme in section 8, approximately 480 pages which is similar to an entire volume! One may wonder whether this fact reflects the unique potentialities of aging and age-related disorders for our understanding of the functioning of the brain or whether other factors play an important role. It is clear that our society faces the rapid growth of the number of aging adults and that an increasing number of individuals will require a psychological assessment of their mental functioning. It is also clear that many neurological disorders occur at a later age. However, this in itself does not imply that aging and dementia provide us with important opportunities to study brain-behavior relationships. Against this background it can be argued that at least some of the chapters would perhaps be appropriate in a handbook on aging, but their presence in a handbook of neuropsychology is somewhat surprising. For instance, the first five chapters of Volume 5 (epidemiology, methodological issues in the subgroups approach of dementia, pathological and chemical correlates, principles of nuclear magnetic resonance and pharmacological treatment strategies in dementia) are hardly neuropsychological in nature. On the other hand, a chapter on the central issue of ‘cognitive slowing’ in normal and pathological aging is clearly missing. Also, the current trend of equating more or less dementia with Alzheimer’s Disease, neglecting other patterns of progressive, dementing diseases, is reflected in this volume. A number of chapters deal with sensory functions and a wide range of cognitive areas, both in normal aging and dementia. With regard to typical age-related neurological syndromes one finds chapters on Parkinson’s Disease and Huntington’s Disease. Also a chapter on the neurology and neuropsychology of HIV-infection is included. The title of section 9 - Cognitive, Methodological and Practical Approaches - reveals to some extent that the 4 chapters in this section do not forr- a coherent set. Olson and Caramazza argue that the study of brain-behavior relations should be based on a cognitive theory. Vallar discusses the well-known problems of symptom versus function localization, and the issue of single case versus group studies. These issues were also addressed in the methodological chapter of Sergent in Volume I. Caplan’s chapter on syntactic comprehension in aphasia forms an important addition to the chapters of
Book reviews
201
section 3 on aphasia. Roller et al.‘s chapter closes the chapters on neuropsychology in adults by describing shortly what neuropsychologists do in daily practice. The two forthcoming volumes are dedicated to issues in developmental neurpsychology. This gives me the opportunity to close this review with a general impression of the adult part. If one compares these 5 volumes with the two volumes of the Handbook of Neurology which were dedicated to neuropsychology in the sixties, it is clear that the field has grown rapidly. The number of phenomena and syndromes studied within a neuropsychological framework has increased. Cognitive psychology has had an overwhelming influence on the approach of these issues and although at first neurologists dominated the scene, the number of psychologists in this area is large and still growing. Researchers with a neuroscience background have developed some interest in cognitive disorders following brain disorders and their work is also incorporated in current neuropsychological theories. These general trends are clearly reflected in the different volumes of the Handbook. However, apart from becoming a respectable area of research, neuropsychology has also entered the clinical settings, providing alternative opportunities for evaluating the effects of brain lesions on cognitive functioning and indeed also other aspects of behaviour. Moreover, during the last decade much effort has been put into developing neuropsychologically oriented rehabilitation programmes. Although these attempts are clearly in an initial phase, clinical neuropsychologists are very much interested and orienting themselves in these areas. If neuropsychology is going to have an impact on the training of physicians, psychologists and other health-related personnel, as Roller et al. argue in their last chapter, then these students need to know how neuropsychological insights can be translated into clinical procedures. A number of chapters address clinical issues, assessment and treatment, but in general clinical neuropsychologists will find it difficult to incorporate the knowledge contained in the different chapters into their daily activities. For researchers, however, the five volumes provide a thorough overview of practically all relevant areas, giving not simple state-of-the-art conclusions, but more extensive discussions of different viewpoints. To me, this is the most attractive feature of this series and makes it relevant to not just the neuropsychologists, but anyone who has a scientific interest in psychological functioning of the brain. Paul Eling Dept. of Psychology Universityof Nijrnegen P.0. x30x 9104 6500 HE N$negen lIhe Netherlands
202
Book reGews
Reference Eling, P., 1992. Book review of Handbook Psychologica 79, 79-83.
of Neuropsychology,
Vols.
1, 2 and 3. Acta
Themes in movement
David A. Rosenbaum, Human Motor Control. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1991.411 pp. ISBN o-12-597300-4. The study of motor control is currently extremely active and fruitful. Intriguing contributions and new insights are emerging not only from experimental psychology, human performance and cognitive psychology, but also from neuroscience and biomechanics, as well as from computer science and robotics. The multidisciplinary, and increasingly interdisciplinary attacks on the multi-level phenomena that are so typical of motor control, have recently resulted in its introduction into cognitive science, as is evidenced by chapters on movement and action in several textbooks (e.g., Posner, 1989; Osherson et al., 1990). Indeed, the behavioral aspects of movement research were formerly somewhat scanty and far less integrated both with the low-level neurophysiological aspects of movement research and with the high-level forms of cognition as studied in the research of perception and language. The current research approaches (involving cognitive, computational and neuroscience aspects) have much in common with the rest of cognitive science and their further integration with the latter is increased each year. Not only is the field of motor control dynamic, large, and diversified, there also are many levels of discourse, each with its own concepts and methodology. How should an undergraduate be introduced to this complex, dynamic diversity? Rosenbaum, who is a thoroughbred experimental psychologist with a major bias towards macroscopic aspects of motor control, has opted for a theme-oriented presentation with adequate attention to neurophysiology and biomechanics as explanatory principles, but avoiding complexity and too much detail, and escaping technical and formal presentations wherever po6ble. The result is an impressive, broad and well-written account in which the essential questions are clearly posed and the important behavioral and neurological issues are introduced and explained. This is done mainly in the context of seven selected movement themes. The first part of the book presents some ‘preliminaries’ in the form of an introductory chapter formulating four core problems to be solved in motor