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Principles of sensory physiology
Book reviews
81
ters which provide in a competent way the background information relating to various aspects of frontal lobe function. The book is divided into seven sections dealing with the effects of frontal lesions on man, electrical activity of frontal lobes in man and non-human primates, the relationship between subcortical and frontal cortical functions and experimentally based models of frontal lobe function. The first chapter is a most informative review by A. R. Luria on the role of frontal lobes in the regulation of behaviour. Luria summarizes a large amount of work done by Russian investigators on human patients with frontal lobe damage. In psychiatric terms, the most prominent features in such patients are ‘disturbances of motives and the absence of criticism’. On the basis of studies on the orienting response with its typical vegetative components, the author concludes that the medial and mediobasal frontal lobes connect the activating brain stem structures to the cortex to maintain the latter active. Patients with massive frontal lobe lesions are unable to execute complex behavioural sequences or to appreciate the consequences of their actions. Yet, Luria concludes that ‘science is still faced with the task of explaining frontal lobe function in clear terms accessible to further analysis’. Among the many able contributions to the later sections of the book is an article by Livanov, Gavrilova and Aslanov which describes some interesting temporal connections betweenvarious brain sites during the performance of mental tasks. Grey Walter gives a thorough survey of the development of the research dealing with slow electrical waves, particularly with the contingent negative variation. As pointed out by Donch.in, Otto, Gerbrandt and Pribram, the temporal and spatial characteristics of this potential should be assessed : a task that necessitates the use of laboratory animals. The delayed response task is dealt with in two papers that implicate a role in shortterm spatial memory for the prefrontal cortex and the mediodorsal thalamus. Skinner and Lindsley present a comprehensive text on the connections between the non-specificmediothalamicsystem and the frontal cortex. Commenting on the various types of electrophysiological phenomena that can be elicited by electrical stimulation of the thalamic structures, such as recruiting responses, sleep spindles, caudate spindles, augmenting responses, evoked potentials, slow potentials and wave forms elicited with various pharmacological agents, these authors correctly conclude that we must await evidence relating each of these electrophysiological phenomena to behavioural aspects. The book ends with a chapter by K. H. Pribram describing the frontal cortex as the executive of the brain. Before the student of this book proceeds to devise his own experiments on the function of the frontal lobe, I would suggest that he read - in addition to the other volumes dealing with the frontal lobes and mentioned in the preface - the excellent review on the role of the frontal lobe in the light of its connections by Walle J. H. Nauta: ‘The problem of the frontal lobe: A reinterpretation’, Journal ofPsychiatric Research 8 (1971), 167-187. Juhani Hyuiivinen
HENRY TAMAR: Principles of Sensory Springfield, Illinois, 1972, 396 pp). As suggested
by its title, this volume presents
Physiology
an advanced
(Charles
treatment
C. Thomas,
of selected areas
82
Book reviews
of sensory physiology, with systematic treatment of the various senses at consecutive levels of the nervous system. The book is intended to provide a basic core of information for courses in sensory physiology at the graduate and advanced undergraduate level. Accordingly, the emphasis is directed towards the sensory mechanisms which receive physical stimuli and the neural processes which transmit sensory impulses to higher centers of the nervous system. It is the author’s expectation that, given the basic physiology of a number of different senses as presented in this volume, the student should be able to understand and integrate more complex material in these areas when encountered in further lectures or readings. While such understanding and integration may occur in some instances, for example in Chapter V the detailed analysis of the initial photochemical events which occur in vision may provide a basis for comprehending the action spectra of various visual pigments, there is a serious question on the scope or breadth of topics which may be expected to be enhanced by this approach. Thus, it is doubtful whether the student would indeed be in a better position to understand, for example, psychophysical theories of color vision after reading Chapter V, than he would have been if a more direct treatment of this topic had been presented. This remark, however, is not necessarily intended as a criticism of the book from the point of view of sensory physiology, but it reveals a serious shortcoming from the perspective of sensory psychology. There are numerous detailed and well-documented descriptions of receptor events and neurophysiological processes, yet the behavioral significance or psychophysical consequence of these functional activities is largely neglected. For example, the process of sensory inhibition in the auditory system is covered very thoroughly in Chapter IV, pp. 1633188; however, less than one page is concerned with inhibitory effects and such matters as threshold responses, sound localization, frequency discrimination, and Mach bands. This is in marked contrast with the treatment of the topic in B&k&y’s book, Serzsory Inhibition, 1967. Thus, while the introductory chapter presents a convincing statement of the fundamental relationship between psychophysical, psychophysiological, and electrophysiological research, the bulk of the book has little to say in terms of sensory behavior. The book is comprised of six chapters: an introduction (Chapter I); two chapters on sensory receptors (Chapters II and III) and one on initial events in receptors (Chapter V); a chapter on inhibition (Chapter IV); and a general chapter on nervous transmission (Chapter VI). The book also contains an author and subject index, with a suggested reading list at the end of each chapter. While, in general, the various chapters present a broad coverage of the topics selected, there are some notable topical omissions, as in Chapter V in which the initial receptor events are considered only for vision, gustation, and mechanical pressure (Pacinian corpuscle). Nevertheless, the topics are well documented with approximately 1300 references, of which about two-thirds are dated from 1965 to 1968, inclusive. However, there is a scarcity of more recent citations with only about 50 titles in 1969, and less than five in 1970. One of the difficulties encountered with such extended coverage is that a meaningful treatment of some topics cannot be provided unless the author makes a serious attempt to integrate consistent research findings and to reconcile apparently conflicting results. This approach was not systematically followed in this volume, with the result that in many instances consecutive paragraphs read like a series of published scientific abstracts (for example, p. 152). Occasionally there are statements which are technically incorrect (for example, in the expression for Stevens’ power law, the subtractive factor is given as the value of the stimulus at threshold rather than at the ‘effective threshold’, p. 10). Also, some statements contain grammatical errors (for
Book reviews
83
example, ‘other data which was used . . .‘, p. 11). These criticisms, however, are seen to be relatively minor in scope and should not be considered to detract significantly from the overall scientific contribution of this book. In summary, the book should be valuable as a text for an advanced course in sensory physiology. There is a sound review of nerve structure and functional principles. with numerous detailed illustrations. Sensory mechanisms are considered in a wide variety of biological species and the research literature is extensively covered. While the book will probably be of primary interest to sensory physiologists, it contains a body of material which should not be ignored by sensory psychologists, comparative psychologists, cellular physiologists, and researchers in biological evolution.
John F. Corso
81
ters which provide in a competent way the background information relating to various aspects of frontal lobe function. The book is divided into seven sections dealing with the effects of frontal lesions on man, electrical activity of frontal lobes in man and non-human primates, the relationship between subcortical and frontal cortical functions and experimentally based models of frontal lobe function. The first chapter is a most informative review by A. R. Luria on the role of frontal lobes in the regulation of behaviour. Luria summarizes a large amount of work done by Russian investigators on human patients with frontal lobe damage. In psychiatric terms, the most prominent features in such patients are ‘disturbances of motives and the absence of criticism’. On the basis of studies on the orienting response with its typical vegetative components, the author concludes that the medial and mediobasal frontal lobes connect the activating brain stem structures to the cortex to maintain the latter active. Patients with massive frontal lobe lesions are unable to execute complex behavioural sequences or to appreciate the consequences of their actions. Yet, Luria concludes that ‘science is still faced with the task of explaining frontal lobe function in clear terms accessible to further analysis’. Among the many able contributions to the later sections of the book is an article by Livanov, Gavrilova and Aslanov which describes some interesting temporal connections betweenvarious brain sites during the performance of mental tasks. Grey Walter gives a thorough survey of the development of the research dealing with slow electrical waves, particularly with the contingent negative variation. As pointed out by Donch.in, Otto, Gerbrandt and Pribram, the temporal and spatial characteristics of this potential should be assessed : a task that necessitates the use of laboratory animals. The delayed response task is dealt with in two papers that implicate a role in shortterm spatial memory for the prefrontal cortex and the mediodorsal thalamus. Skinner and Lindsley present a comprehensive text on the connections between the non-specificmediothalamicsystem and the frontal cortex. Commenting on the various types of electrophysiological phenomena that can be elicited by electrical stimulation of the thalamic structures, such as recruiting responses, sleep spindles, caudate spindles, augmenting responses, evoked potentials, slow potentials and wave forms elicited with various pharmacological agents, these authors correctly conclude that we must await evidence relating each of these electrophysiological phenomena to behavioural aspects. The book ends with a chapter by K. H. Pribram describing the frontal cortex as the executive of the brain. Before the student of this book proceeds to devise his own experiments on the function of the frontal lobe, I would suggest that he read - in addition to the other volumes dealing with the frontal lobes and mentioned in the preface - the excellent review on the role of the frontal lobe in the light of its connections by Walle J. H. Nauta: ‘The problem of the frontal lobe: A reinterpretation’, Journal ofPsychiatric Research 8 (1971), 167-187. Juhani Hyuiivinen
HENRY TAMAR: Principles of Sensory Springfield, Illinois, 1972, 396 pp). As suggested
by its title, this volume presents
Physiology
an advanced
(Charles
treatment
C. Thomas,
of selected areas
82
Book reviews
of sensory physiology, with systematic treatment of the various senses at consecutive levels of the nervous system. The book is intended to provide a basic core of information for courses in sensory physiology at the graduate and advanced undergraduate level. Accordingly, the emphasis is directed towards the sensory mechanisms which receive physical stimuli and the neural processes which transmit sensory impulses to higher centers of the nervous system. It is the author’s expectation that, given the basic physiology of a number of different senses as presented in this volume, the student should be able to understand and integrate more complex material in these areas when encountered in further lectures or readings. While such understanding and integration may occur in some instances, for example in Chapter V the detailed analysis of the initial photochemical events which occur in vision may provide a basis for comprehending the action spectra of various visual pigments, there is a serious question on the scope or breadth of topics which may be expected to be enhanced by this approach. Thus, it is doubtful whether the student would indeed be in a better position to understand, for example, psychophysical theories of color vision after reading Chapter V, than he would have been if a more direct treatment of this topic had been presented. This remark, however, is not necessarily intended as a criticism of the book from the point of view of sensory physiology, but it reveals a serious shortcoming from the perspective of sensory psychology. There are numerous detailed and well-documented descriptions of receptor events and neurophysiological processes, yet the behavioral significance or psychophysical consequence of these functional activities is largely neglected. For example, the process of sensory inhibition in the auditory system is covered very thoroughly in Chapter IV, pp. 1633188; however, less than one page is concerned with inhibitory effects and such matters as threshold responses, sound localization, frequency discrimination, and Mach bands. This is in marked contrast with the treatment of the topic in B&k&y’s book, Serzsory Inhibition, 1967. Thus, while the introductory chapter presents a convincing statement of the fundamental relationship between psychophysical, psychophysiological, and electrophysiological research, the bulk of the book has little to say in terms of sensory behavior. The book is comprised of six chapters: an introduction (Chapter I); two chapters on sensory receptors (Chapters II and III) and one on initial events in receptors (Chapter V); a chapter on inhibition (Chapter IV); and a general chapter on nervous transmission (Chapter VI). The book also contains an author and subject index, with a suggested reading list at the end of each chapter. While, in general, the various chapters present a broad coverage of the topics selected, there are some notable topical omissions, as in Chapter V in which the initial receptor events are considered only for vision, gustation, and mechanical pressure (Pacinian corpuscle). Nevertheless, the topics are well documented with approximately 1300 references, of which about two-thirds are dated from 1965 to 1968, inclusive. However, there is a scarcity of more recent citations with only about 50 titles in 1969, and less than five in 1970. One of the difficulties encountered with such extended coverage is that a meaningful treatment of some topics cannot be provided unless the author makes a serious attempt to integrate consistent research findings and to reconcile apparently conflicting results. This approach was not systematically followed in this volume, with the result that in many instances consecutive paragraphs read like a series of published scientific abstracts (for example, p. 152). Occasionally there are statements which are technically incorrect (for example, in the expression for Stevens’ power law, the subtractive factor is given as the value of the stimulus at threshold rather than at the ‘effective threshold’, p. 10). Also, some statements contain grammatical errors (for
Book reviews
83
example, ‘other data which was used . . .‘, p. 11). These criticisms, however, are seen to be relatively minor in scope and should not be considered to detract significantly from the overall scientific contribution of this book. In summary, the book should be valuable as a text for an advanced course in sensory physiology. There is a sound review of nerve structure and functional principles. with numerous detailed illustrations. Sensory mechanisms are considered in a wide variety of biological species and the research literature is extensively covered. While the book will probably be of primary interest to sensory physiologists, it contains a body of material which should not be ignored by sensory psychologists, comparative psychologists, cellular physiologists, and researchers in biological evolution.
John F. Corso