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Handedness and developmental disorder
132 Handedness and Developmental 1990.
BOOK RFVILWS Disorder. By DOKOTHY V. M. BISHOP. Lawrence
Erlbaum
Associates,
Hillsdale, NJ.
THIS IS A IJAPIXHACK edition
of the book originally published by MacKeith Press (1990) and already critically reviewed many times elsewhere. In keeping with her previous contributions to the field, Dorothy Bishop has once again applied her penetrating mind to the interpretation of evidence associating certain aspects of behaviour with some morphological or functional cerebra1 asymmetry. This time it is a systematic examination of the relationship between handedness and particular developmental disorders. By ajudicial selection ofstudies, the author leads the reader through thejungle ofexperiments. speculations and assertions that constitute the handedness literature, to an examination of the equally ill-defined and confused clinical evidence on developmental disorders. At each stage of this process, ideas and findings are critically evaluated and the problems of interpretation of the work discussed. with the author offering her ow’n conclusions, albeit cautiously and with qualification. In this respect, she brings an unusually fresh, thorough and impartial approach to the evidence. so that few unjustified assumptions or popular misconceptions manage to remain unquestioned. The depth of the author’s rcvicw is well matched to the extent of its coverage, and the balance of material included undoubtedly reflects current research directions and trends. The first five chapters deal with the nature and measurement of handedness. and what is known about its origins, development and association with cerebra1 asymmetries. The next chapter considers the question of handedness and intellectual ability in normal population samples, and this is followed by a review of studies relating to pathological left-handedness, epilepsy, mental impairment. autism, reading retardation, speech and language disorders, stuttering, and hormonal (immune) disorders, each of which forms the subject of a separate chapter. The final section (Chapter 15) provides a brief but valuable appreciation and warning of the methodological, theoretical and assessment problems to be encountered and recognized, and an appendix presents examples of tests in common use. Thus, the book provides a concise, well-organized,easy to read, yet scholarly treatment ofthe field that accurately reflects the current state of thinking. It will no doubt be of particular value to clinical psychologists and paediatricians. and constitute a very helpful guide and source of information for anyone contemplating undertaking research in this area. K. A. PKoVlNS
Preoperative Events. Their Effects on Behaviour Following Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1989.
Brain Damage.
Edited
by Jnv SCHCLKIN. Lawrence
THE LAST two decades have seen a dramatic development of the area of neuroscience concerned with investigating recovery of function following damage to the brain. Within such investigations there has been an overwhelming emphasis on the importance to the recovery process of events and conditions occurring after the brain has been damaged. Schulkin’s book is the first to concentrate exclusively on the importance of preoperative events and. in particular, the possibility that preoperative events might “protect” the organism against the effects of brain damage. As such it is a welcome addition to the literature. The book has two particularly valuable and note-worthy features. The lirst is a brief yet ver] informative introduction by Schulkin which proposes a number of”--empirical generalisations that should orient the reader-“, together with a listing of the chapters in which each is discussed. The second is a series of three concluding commentaries by Kolb. Stellar and Schulkin, respectively, the first of which contains a convenient summary ofeach contributing author’s views about the protective effects of preoperative events. This reader certainly found these didactic courtesies very helpful. Ironically this clarity in organisation and presentation also helped to highlight ways in which the volume might have been made more useful still. In the words of the Editor: “The book is conceptually divided into two sections. The lirst scvcn chapters have to do with regulatory or appetitive behaviour. The next seven chapters have more to do with the learning of tasks. Therange of inquiry is from fish to humans, from cortex to hypothalamus, from escape behaviour to space perception. In some contexts there arc protective effects; in others there are not. And not all the authors are in agreement.” The chapters alao range from those which discuss established areas of enquiry regarding the influence of preoperative events on lesion effects (for example. environmental enrichment, social experience. overtraining) to those which are confined to assessing studies done for entirely different reasons (for example. investigating hippocampal function) in terms of their relevance to the preoperative protection issue. The former do not always offer a comprehensive review of the potentially protectibc properative event under discussion (environmental enrichment. or whatever). Some of the chapters in the latter category describe work of considerable elegance and are fascinating to read but one cannot help wondering if there are not areas of work with a greater claim to inclusion in this particular volume. For example, chapters on the cffccts of age and sex (not preoperative “events” but certainly preoperative conditions) on lesion impairments would have been valuable. Similarly. and despite serial lesion effects being
BOOK RFVILWS Disorder. By DOKOTHY V. M. BISHOP. Lawrence
Erlbaum
Associates,
Hillsdale, NJ.
THIS IS A IJAPIXHACK edition
of the book originally published by MacKeith Press (1990) and already critically reviewed many times elsewhere. In keeping with her previous contributions to the field, Dorothy Bishop has once again applied her penetrating mind to the interpretation of evidence associating certain aspects of behaviour with some morphological or functional cerebra1 asymmetry. This time it is a systematic examination of the relationship between handedness and particular developmental disorders. By ajudicial selection ofstudies, the author leads the reader through thejungle ofexperiments. speculations and assertions that constitute the handedness literature, to an examination of the equally ill-defined and confused clinical evidence on developmental disorders. At each stage of this process, ideas and findings are critically evaluated and the problems of interpretation of the work discussed. with the author offering her ow’n conclusions, albeit cautiously and with qualification. In this respect, she brings an unusually fresh, thorough and impartial approach to the evidence. so that few unjustified assumptions or popular misconceptions manage to remain unquestioned. The depth of the author’s rcvicw is well matched to the extent of its coverage, and the balance of material included undoubtedly reflects current research directions and trends. The first five chapters deal with the nature and measurement of handedness. and what is known about its origins, development and association with cerebra1 asymmetries. The next chapter considers the question of handedness and intellectual ability in normal population samples, and this is followed by a review of studies relating to pathological left-handedness, epilepsy, mental impairment. autism, reading retardation, speech and language disorders, stuttering, and hormonal (immune) disorders, each of which forms the subject of a separate chapter. The final section (Chapter 15) provides a brief but valuable appreciation and warning of the methodological, theoretical and assessment problems to be encountered and recognized, and an appendix presents examples of tests in common use. Thus, the book provides a concise, well-organized,easy to read, yet scholarly treatment ofthe field that accurately reflects the current state of thinking. It will no doubt be of particular value to clinical psychologists and paediatricians. and constitute a very helpful guide and source of information for anyone contemplating undertaking research in this area. K. A. PKoVlNS
Preoperative Events. Their Effects on Behaviour Following Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1989.
Brain Damage.
Edited
by Jnv SCHCLKIN. Lawrence
THE LAST two decades have seen a dramatic development of the area of neuroscience concerned with investigating recovery of function following damage to the brain. Within such investigations there has been an overwhelming emphasis on the importance to the recovery process of events and conditions occurring after the brain has been damaged. Schulkin’s book is the first to concentrate exclusively on the importance of preoperative events and. in particular, the possibility that preoperative events might “protect” the organism against the effects of brain damage. As such it is a welcome addition to the literature. The book has two particularly valuable and note-worthy features. The lirst is a brief yet ver] informative introduction by Schulkin which proposes a number of”--empirical generalisations that should orient the reader-“, together with a listing of the chapters in which each is discussed. The second is a series of three concluding commentaries by Kolb. Stellar and Schulkin, respectively, the first of which contains a convenient summary ofeach contributing author’s views about the protective effects of preoperative events. This reader certainly found these didactic courtesies very helpful. Ironically this clarity in organisation and presentation also helped to highlight ways in which the volume might have been made more useful still. In the words of the Editor: “The book is conceptually divided into two sections. The lirst scvcn chapters have to do with regulatory or appetitive behaviour. The next seven chapters have more to do with the learning of tasks. Therange of inquiry is from fish to humans, from cortex to hypothalamus, from escape behaviour to space perception. In some contexts there arc protective effects; in others there are not. And not all the authors are in agreement.” The chapters alao range from those which discuss established areas of enquiry regarding the influence of preoperative events on lesion effects (for example. environmental enrichment, social experience. overtraining) to those which are confined to assessing studies done for entirely different reasons (for example. investigating hippocampal function) in terms of their relevance to the preoperative protection issue. The former do not always offer a comprehensive review of the potentially protectibc properative event under discussion (environmental enrichment. or whatever). Some of the chapters in the latter category describe work of considerable elegance and are fascinating to read but one cannot help wondering if there are not areas of work with a greater claim to inclusion in this particular volume. For example, chapters on the cffccts of age and sex (not preoperative “events” but certainly preoperative conditions) on lesion impairments would have been valuable. Similarly. and despite serial lesion effects being