Physiological psychology Books

Book SynopsisThis collaborative book by five distinguished scholars in overlapping fields suggests that fruitful living is extremely hard work and that social harmony requires the unlocking and the emancipation of the human brain – the core cerebral source for advancing human coherence, connectivity, cohesion and civility. The stakes are simply too high for stakeholders across our country not to respond to the ongoing and escalating crisis of human division and the desperate need for engagement, enlightenment, and acceptance of human diversity. The authors strongly encourage academic and practitioner psychologists, as well as other students and social scientists, to join a timely framed narrative for greater progress in diversity.Neurodiversity aims to encourage dialogue, discourse, and discovery about what may be obvious to many but avoided by most – because its forces us to look inward instead of outward. We can make such inward observations, through the lenses of psychology, cognition, mindfulness, and underleveraged brain capacity amid modern cultural neuroscience. This is critically important – particularly in a time marked by the widespread amplification of ambiguity, angst, ambivalence, and anger.This book focuses on “crucial thinking” versus “critical thinking.” The authors pose fundamental questions -- about what we are calling a form of cognitive “levitation” and taxonomical “climbing” (CBDT) -- to think about purposes of intellectual discourse, not necessarily to seek empirical evidence. A special feature of this book is the inclusion of sample student learning outcomes as “provisos” throughout the narrative. We have attempted to integrate the student learning outcomes in the text’s narrative and connect them to the sections where they are inserted for the reader. The book’s embedded taxonomies can also facilitate the instruction, composition, and conceptualization of targeted student learning outcomes.

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Book SynopsisThis book, the second of three volumes, concentrates on peripheral nervous system disorders. Examining the effects of neurotoxicants on nerve, muscle and the neuromuscular junction, it builds on the scientific principles outlined in volume 1 by looking at the application of the methods discussed, particularly in terms of the evaluation and diagnosis of individual patients and the related process of establishing causation.Neurobehavorial Toxicology, Volume 2 will be of interest to practicing neurologists and neuropsychologists, as well as to occupational medicine physicians and medical toxicologists.Trade Review'It is ... a welcome development in the field that a multivolume series dedicated to neuropsychological and neurological perspectives on toxicology has recently been published, and it can only be hoped that this will lead to an increase in the awareness of the neuropsychological consequences of of toxic exposure among clinicians and encourage further research in this field. ... Although the forthcoming volume will be of undoubted interest, the first two volumes are certainly very worthy of consideration. ... The authors are both very experienced, thoughtful clinicians, as indicated from the clinical anecdotes that frequently illustrate the text, turning what could have been, in less expert hands, rather dry tomes into an engaging read, full of clinical insights and well-reasoned arguments. Both volumes are also very comprehensively referenced, enabling a relative newcomer to the field of neurobehavioral toxicology to embark on wider reading if desired, although the comprehensive ... manner in which the material is presented will no doubt provide a sufficient introduction to the field for most newcomers. ... The volume also includes a detailed overview of research paradigms and methodologies that are ... beautifully written and highly engaging, containing a series of interesting discussions on the nature of the research process and of the clinical knowledge that is based on it. ... This series promises to be a most useful addition to the library of any neuropsychological department and to the personal collection of any clinician or researcher with a particular interest in the field. ... The quality of the material included within the volumes is of a uniformly high standard.'- Stephen Mullin, in PsyCritiques, 2nd June 2006'The authors are both very experienced, thoughtful clinicians, as indicated from the clinical anecdotes that frequently illustrate the text, turning what could have been, in less expert hands, rather dry tomes into an engaging read, full of clinical insights and well-reasoned arguments.'-Stephen Mullin, PsyCritiques, 2nd June 2006Table of ContentsClinical and Electrodiagnostic Evaluations of the Peripheral Nervous System. Industrial and Environmental Agents. Medications and Substances of Abuse. Conditions Which Sometimes Mimic Peripheral Nervous System Disease. Consequences of an Incomplete Differential Diagnosis. Issues and Controversies Involving the Peripheral Nervous System Evaluation. Postscript Volume II. Appendix to Volume II. Subject Index

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Book SynopsisTo understand mental function, we need to uncover the representations and processes underlying our ability to comprehend and to produce words, sentences,numbers and objects (or pictures of them). The unique contribution of the field of cognitive neuropsychology is the investigation of these representations and processes in individuals who have sustained selective brain damage. Indeed, studies of such individuals provide a window into the mental system and allow us to explore the functional architecture that is necessary and sufficient for cognition. This special issue of Cognitive Neuropsychology is a collection of papers that exemplifies this type of cognitive neuropsychology research. The special issue is designed to honour and pay tribute to Eleanor M. Saffran, one of the pioneers of this discipline, who adopted this approach in her wide-ranging investigations of individuals with cognitive impairment following brain damage.The papers included in this collection all explore issues concerning behavioural and neural mechanisms mediating cognition and are divided into four separate sections. Two of these focus on language, with the emphasis of the first on single word recognition and the second on processes that are invoked beyond the single word level. Conceptual and semantic processes are covered in a third section and the final section is concerned with issues related to more peripheral processes, which, when impaired, give rise to alexia, agnosia and/or agraphia. This extensive collection of papers represents a comprehensive overview of the current state of the field and the papers elucidate the most recent findings in the domain of cognitive neuropsychology. Trade ReviewTable of ContentsM. Behrmann, K. Patterson, Preface: Dedication to Eleanor Saffran. Part I: Single Word Processing. M. Behrmann, Description of Eleanor Saffran's Contribution to This Area. M. Laiacona, A. Caramazza, The Noun/Verb Dissociation in Language Production: Varieties of Causes. G.S. Dell, E.N. Lawler, H.D. Harris, J.K. Gordon, Models of Errors of Omission in Aphasic Naming. J.R. Hanley, G.S. Dell, J. Kay, R. Baron, Evidence for the Involvement of a Nonlexical Route in the Repetition of Familiar Words: A Comparison of Single and Dual Route Models of Auditory Repetition. M. Schwartz, C.E. Wilshire, D.A. Gagnon, M. Polansky, Origins of Nonword Phonological Errors in Aphasic Picture Naming. C.E. Wilshire, C.A. Fisher, "Phonological" Dysphasia: A Cross-modal Phonological Impairment Affecting Repetition, Production and Comprehension. Part II: Beyond Single Word Processing. K. Patterson, Description of Eleanor Saffran's Contribution to This Area: Exploring the Relationship Between Word Processing and Verbal Short-term Memory: Evidence from Associations and Dissociations. R.S. Berndt, C.C. Mitchum, M.W. Burton, A.N. Haendiges, Comprehension of Reversible Sentences in Aphasia: The Effects of Verb Meaning. M.L. Freedman, R.C. Martin, Semantic Relatedness Effects in Conjoined Noun Phrase Production: Implications for the Role of Short-term Memory. M.C. Linebarger, D. McCall, R.S. Berndt, The Role of Processing Support in the Remediation of Aphasic Language Production Disorders. Part III: Conceptual and Semantic Representations. K. Patterson, Description of Eleanor Saffran's Contribution to This Area. J. Schwoebel, L.J. Buxbaum, H.B. Coslett, Representations of the Human Body in the Production and Imitation of Complex Movements. E.K. Warrington, S.J. Crutch, A Circumscribed Refractory Access Disorder: A Verbal Semantic Impairment Sparing Visual Semantics. E. Rochon, G. Kave, J. Cupit, R. Jokel, G. Winocur, Sentence Comprehension in Semantic Dementia: A Longitudinal Case Study. T.T. Rogers, M.A. Lambon Ralph, J.R. Hodges, K. Patterson, Natural Selection: The Impact of Semantic Impairment on Lexical and Object Decision. R. Westmacott, M. Freedman, S.E. Black, M. Moscovitch, Temporally Graded Semantic Memory Loss in Alzheimer's Disease: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Studies. Part IV: Three As: Alexia, Agraphia, Agnosia. M. Behrmann, Description of Eleanor Saffran's Contribution to This Area. K. Sage, A.W. Ellis, Lexical Influences in Graphemic Buffer Disorder. M.A. Lambon Ralph, A. Hesketh, K. Sage, Implicit Recognition in Pure Alexia: The Saffran Effect - A Tale of Two Systems or Two Procedures? M.J. Riddoch, G.W. Humphreys, Object Identification in Simultanagnosia: When Wholes Are Not the Sum of Their Parts. T.J. McKeeff, M. Behrmann, Pure Alexia and Covert Reading: Evidence From Stroop Tasks. Subject Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Structure of Personality identifies the process of producing a personality, and presents strategies that will reprogramme personality. Coaching the reader in a number of effective and specially adapted NLP techniques, it includes tools such as The RESOLVE model and the Personal Strengths model, making it an essential reference for counsellors, therapists and NLP practitioners. "A major step in creating a cognitive map using Neuro-Semantics and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to understand the relationship between a person's thinking and his or her personality development." Jim Walsh MA, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified School Psychologist, Certified Neuro-Semantics and Neuro-Linguistics Trainer. An exciting new book already proving extremely popular.Trade Review"This book provides a solid, alternative foundation for viewing personality. It is process and solution oriented rather than the old school content and pathology orientation. The authors offer good research to support their position. This book also combines and presents many very effective treatment methods that help one take charge of one's personality and reshape it by choice." John Burton, Ed.D., LPC"

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Book SynopsisFind the happiness of emptiness. Few things scare us more than inner emptiness. The presumed emptiness of coma or dementia scares us so much that we even sign living wills to avoid these states. Yet as Zen masters have long known, inner emptiness can also be productive and useful. We can reach this state through meditation, concentration, music, or even during sex. In fact, our brain loves emptiness — it makes us happy. Leading brain researcher Niels Birbaumer investigates the pleasure in emptiness and how we can take advantage of it. He explains how to overcome the evolutionary attentiveness of your brain and take a break from thinking — a skill that’s more important than ever in an increasingly frantic world.

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