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The definition of psychology, 2nd edition
Neuropsychologia, 1974, Vol. 12, pp. 295 to 296. Pergamon Press. Printed in England.
BOOK REVIEWS The Definition of Psychology, 2nd Edition. By F. S. KELLER, Appleton Century Crofts, New York, 197?, 149 pp. £1.95. CE PETIT volume constitue une pr6sentation rapide des diff6rentes 6tapes au cours desquelles la psychologie a pr6cis6 son domaine et ses m6thodes. I1 semble bien que, pour l'auteur, ce n'est qu'avec les travaux de SKINNER que la psychologic a trouv6 ses m6thode, son syst~me explicatif et ses pouvoirs de pr6dietion et de contr61e. Certes Keller n'ose y voir l'6tape ultime et reconnait qu'il peut apparaitre quelque nouvelle formulation qui sera plus largement accept6e que la th6orie du r~enforcement mats, ~ l'heure actuelle, c'est toujours, selon Keller, le seul syst6me coh6rent de psychologie. Dans la pr6face de la premi6re 6dition de son ouvrage, F. S. Keller indiquait que son but avait 6t6 de fournir aux 6tudiants en psychologic, une br6ve histoire du d6veloppement de la science ~t laquelle ils entendaient se consacrer. Le livre est en effet clair, bien pr6sent6, de lecture facile pour le d6butant; on n'en est que plus inquiet si l'on songe que ce dernier pourrait 6tre persuad6, apr6s cette lecture, que la psychologie actuelle se r6sum6 au Behaviorisme radical et que c'est seulement cette th6orie qui a 6t6 capable de transformer en science, les balbutiements des 6poques pr&6dentes. H. HECAEN
The Oculomotor System and Brain Functions. Edited by V. ZmMUND, Bratislava. Published in 1973, jointly by Butterworths, London, and by Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava. 524 pp. Tins BOOK represents the proceedings of a colloquium held in October, 1970, at the Castle of Smolenice. Papers presented at the colloquium have been classified into six sections. Section 1 (Neurophysiological Principles of the Oculomotor Regulations) is not the most original part of the book, mainly because results exposed in five of the six papers have been presented at another important colloquium, held later, but published one year earlier. However, three topics which are presently the subject of large developments in visuomotor physiology, are outlined in this section: the problem of oculomotor influences on the visual centers, a typical model for the study of "corollary discharges" mechanisms; the role of the tectum in inducing eye movements, which is one of the main arguments for the developing concept of the duality of visual function; possible separate mechanisms for saccadic and slow poursuit eye movements, an important (and unsolved) problem. Section 2 (Clinical Neurophysiology), presenting almost exclusively studies of visual evoked responses, is interesting. Evoked responses recorded in different situations are compared (e.g. responses evoked by a pattern flashed prior to, during, or after a saccade; or occipital potentials induced by moving a pattern in front of the eyes, or by moving the eyes across patterned or featureless backgrounds, etc . . . . ). However, a more synthetic paper, which would have reported psychophysical correlates of these perceptual situations, is seriously lacking. For instance, the relationship of the different averaged potentials to saccadic suppression is only marginally discussed by the different authors. In Section 3 (Mechanisms of Visual Perception) are found two interesting papers dealing with stationary retinal images. Imprinting after-images on the retina is shown to be a powerful technique for a psychophysical study of visual integration, and for the evaluation a contrario of the role of eye movements in this integration. Fragmentation of the "perceived" after-image over time is assessed to represent successive steps or "sub-events" in the recognition of a pattern. Eye movements, with their typical 4-5/see frequency, might determine the timing of these steps. Two other papers report about possible determinants of gaze fixations within the visual field. When visual exploration is started, gaze seems to be strongly attracted by objects in the upper left quadrant. However, in a pattern discrimination task, implying a "similar" or more "dissimilar" judgement, the fight hemifield is more scanned than the left one. Section 4 (Optokinetic Nystagmus). Papers in this section stress the modifiability of OKN with respect to so-called non specific factors (i.e. not related to the stimulus, such as attention, alertness, etc.). The real point raised by these studies is to know whether optokinetic nystagrnus is a pre-set response purely related 295
BOOK REVIEWS The Definition of Psychology, 2nd Edition. By F. S. KELLER, Appleton Century Crofts, New York, 197?, 149 pp. £1.95. CE PETIT volume constitue une pr6sentation rapide des diff6rentes 6tapes au cours desquelles la psychologie a pr6cis6 son domaine et ses m6thodes. I1 semble bien que, pour l'auteur, ce n'est qu'avec les travaux de SKINNER que la psychologic a trouv6 ses m6thode, son syst~me explicatif et ses pouvoirs de pr6dietion et de contr61e. Certes Keller n'ose y voir l'6tape ultime et reconnait qu'il peut apparaitre quelque nouvelle formulation qui sera plus largement accept6e que la th6orie du r~enforcement mats, ~ l'heure actuelle, c'est toujours, selon Keller, le seul syst6me coh6rent de psychologie. Dans la pr6face de la premi6re 6dition de son ouvrage, F. S. Keller indiquait que son but avait 6t6 de fournir aux 6tudiants en psychologic, une br6ve histoire du d6veloppement de la science ~t laquelle ils entendaient se consacrer. Le livre est en effet clair, bien pr6sent6, de lecture facile pour le d6butant; on n'en est que plus inquiet si l'on songe que ce dernier pourrait 6tre persuad6, apr6s cette lecture, que la psychologie actuelle se r6sum6 au Behaviorisme radical et que c'est seulement cette th6orie qui a 6t6 capable de transformer en science, les balbutiements des 6poques pr&6dentes. H. HECAEN
The Oculomotor System and Brain Functions. Edited by V. ZmMUND, Bratislava. Published in 1973, jointly by Butterworths, London, and by Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava. 524 pp. Tins BOOK represents the proceedings of a colloquium held in October, 1970, at the Castle of Smolenice. Papers presented at the colloquium have been classified into six sections. Section 1 (Neurophysiological Principles of the Oculomotor Regulations) is not the most original part of the book, mainly because results exposed in five of the six papers have been presented at another important colloquium, held later, but published one year earlier. However, three topics which are presently the subject of large developments in visuomotor physiology, are outlined in this section: the problem of oculomotor influences on the visual centers, a typical model for the study of "corollary discharges" mechanisms; the role of the tectum in inducing eye movements, which is one of the main arguments for the developing concept of the duality of visual function; possible separate mechanisms for saccadic and slow poursuit eye movements, an important (and unsolved) problem. Section 2 (Clinical Neurophysiology), presenting almost exclusively studies of visual evoked responses, is interesting. Evoked responses recorded in different situations are compared (e.g. responses evoked by a pattern flashed prior to, during, or after a saccade; or occipital potentials induced by moving a pattern in front of the eyes, or by moving the eyes across patterned or featureless backgrounds, etc . . . . ). However, a more synthetic paper, which would have reported psychophysical correlates of these perceptual situations, is seriously lacking. For instance, the relationship of the different averaged potentials to saccadic suppression is only marginally discussed by the different authors. In Section 3 (Mechanisms of Visual Perception) are found two interesting papers dealing with stationary retinal images. Imprinting after-images on the retina is shown to be a powerful technique for a psychophysical study of visual integration, and for the evaluation a contrario of the role of eye movements in this integration. Fragmentation of the "perceived" after-image over time is assessed to represent successive steps or "sub-events" in the recognition of a pattern. Eye movements, with their typical 4-5/see frequency, might determine the timing of these steps. Two other papers report about possible determinants of gaze fixations within the visual field. When visual exploration is started, gaze seems to be strongly attracted by objects in the upper left quadrant. However, in a pattern discrimination task, implying a "similar" or more "dissimilar" judgement, the fight hemifield is more scanned than the left one. Section 4 (Optokinetic Nystagmus). Papers in this section stress the modifiability of OKN with respect to so-called non specific factors (i.e. not related to the stimulus, such as attention, alertness, etc.). The real point raised by these studies is to know whether optokinetic nystagrnus is a pre-set response purely related 295