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This ambitious and accessible guide reviews innovative technologies enhancing the field of neuropsychological testing. Starting with the premise that standard batteries—some nearly a century old—lag behind in our era of neuroimaging, genomic studies, psychophysiology, and informatics, it presents digital measures offering more efficient administration, more accurate data, and wider clinical applications. Ecological validity and evidence-based science are key themes in these advances, from virtual environments and assessment of social cognition to the shift toward situational reliability and away from lab-created constructs. These chapters also demonstrate how high-tech assessment tools can complement or supplement traditional pencil-and-paper measures without replacing them outright.This book covers in depth:· The evolution of neuropsychological testing over the past century.· Current applications of computer-based neuropsychological assessments.· The strengths and limitations of simulation technology.· The use of teleneuropsychology in reaching remote clients.· The potential of gaming technologies in neurocognitive rehabilitation.· How technology can transform test data into information useful across specialties.Clinical Neuropsychology and Technology brings neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, and rehabilitation specialists into the vanguard of assessment measures and processes that will translate into more accurate testing, collaborations between disciplines, and valid and useful outcomes.

Neuropsychology has presented a particularly formidable array of devel­ opments during recent years. The number of methods, theoretical ap­ proaches, and publications has been steadily increasing, permitting a step-by-step approach to a deeper understanding of the tremendously complex relationships existing between brain and behavior. This volume was planned as a collection of papers that, in one way or another, present new research and clinical perspectives or interpretations about brain-behavior relationships. Some chapters present new research in specific topics, others summarize the evidence for a particular the­ oretical position, and others simply review the area and suggest new perspectives of research. Consistent with the spirit in which the book was planned, the authors present and propose new avenues for developing neuropsychology and understanding the organization of cognitive activity. Part I is devoted to basic theoretical and technical approaches in studying brain organization of cognitive processes. Hanlon and Brown ('Microgenesis: Historical Review and Current Studies') present an over­ view of some clinical and experimental work from the standpoint of mi­ crogenetic theory. Microgenesis is considered to be the structural devel­ opment of a cognition through qualitatively different stages. The authors discuss the growing dissatisfaction with both the old center and pathway theories and the newer modular or componental accounts. They also ex­ plore how micro genesis can be extended to the interpretation of symp­ toms of brain damage in developing a structural model of hierarchic levels through which the process of cognitive function unfolds.

Exploring Cognition: Damaged Brains and Neural Networks analyses the contribution made by cognitive neuropsychology and connectionist modelling to theoretical explanations of cognitive processes. Bringing together evidence from both damaged brains and neural networks, this exciting and innovative approach leads to re-evaluation of traditional theories: connectionist models lesioned to mimic the residual function of the damaged brain and rehabilitated to simulate the process of recovery suggest underlying mechanisms and challenge previous interpretations.In this reader key articles by leading international researchers are combined with linking commentaries that provide a context, highlight the conceptual themes and evaluate the evidence. Carefully selected to include hotly debated topics, the papers cover, among others, the controversies surrounding explanations for category specificity in object recognition and for covert recognition of faces and words; the mechanisms underlying the use of regular and irregular past tenses; and the reading of regularly and irregularly spelled words. The challenges posed by connectionist models to assumptions about the nature of dissociations, the need for symbolic rule-based operations in language processing and the modularity and localisation of processes are assessed.Exploring Cognition: Damaged Brains and Neural Networks will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience.

This textbook augments the first edition through the inclusion of a set of reseach and review papers selected by the authors to supplement the contents of each chapter by providing a discussion of research issues and detailed investigation of individual cases. One or two papers supplement each chapter. A short introduction to each set makes clear the nature of their contribution and how they relate to each chapter's contents. Some of the papers are short reviews of theoretical contributions; others are case studies in the tradition of cognitive neuropsychology. At least three of the main trends discernible in cognitive neuropsychology in the 1990s are represented in the chosen papers. The first is the use of connectionist models to simulate patterns of impairment in brain-injured patients. The second is the growing convergence between cognitive neuropsychology and neuroscience: cognitive neuropsychologists are becoming increasingly interested in the brain processes that underlie the preserved and damaged psychological processes they study. The third trend is the involvement of cognitive neuropsychologists in work on therapy and rehabilitation.

The definitive introduction to Bayesian cognitive science, written by pioneers of the field.How does human intelligence work, in engineering terms? How do our minds get so much from so little? Bayesian models of cognition provide a powerful framework for answering these questions by reverse-engineering the mind. This textbook offers an authoritative introduction to Bayesian cognitive science and a unifying theoretical perspective on how the mind works. Part I provides an introduction to the key mathematical ideas and illustrations with examples from the psychological literature, including detailed derivations of specific models and references that can be used to learn more about the underlying principles. Part II details more advanced topics and their applications before engaging with critiques of the reverse-engineering approach. Written by experts at the forefront of new research, this comprehensive text brings the fields of cognitive science and artificial intelligence back together and establishes a firmly grounded mathematical and computational foundation for the understanding of human intelligence. The only textbook comprehensively introducing the Bayesian approach to cognitionWritten by pioneers in the fieldOffers cutting-edge coverage of Bayesian cognitive science's research frontiers Suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers across the sciences with an interest in the mind, brain, and intelligence Features short tutorials and case studies of specific Bayesian models

Modern life is brain-unfriendly: We are flooded with information and excessive cognitive demands, when we are often already depleted from chronic stress, sleep deprivation, and health issues. Many of us experience frequent'glitches'or memory lapses, despite tests showing there is nothing wrong with our brains. This book provides concrete strategies, derived from neuropsychological science and clinical practice, to help people improve how they function in daily life.Menchola draws on her experience as a clinical neuropsychologist who has worked with a widely diverse group of patients, to translate the findings from highly controlled research into concrete strategies that people can implement in their messy worlds to make their days more brain-friendly. The book also provides advice on how to address those factors that drain our brain resources, and gives guidance on when and how to seek a neuropsychological evaluation.It is valuable reading for anyone experiencing frustrating cognitive problems that are not due to brain disease. It is also essential for neuropsychologists, psychologists and physicians in primary care, psychiatry, and neurology, who need a resource to offer to patients to help their healthy brains function better.

This volume provides an overview of cognitive science and critically assess areas within the topic that are evolving rapidly. It discusses the effects of religious and meditative practices on its core components. Using multidisciplinary studies and rich empirical literature, discussions and demonstrations, this volume • Discusses the evolution of cognition with reference to material records and the use of brain imaging. • Highlights emerging domains and novel themes within cognitive science such as transgender cognition, space cognition, cross-cultural cognition, futuristic artificial intelligence, social cognition and moral cognition • Reflects on the status of cognition research in these emerging areas and critically evaluates their current progress • Explores data both from behavioural and neuroimaging research literature, and sheds light on the potential effects of technological growth and changing habits on attention and cognitive abilities of humans • Speculates research domains that would gain importance in the next few decades in cognitive science research A comprehensive study finding commonalities in theoretical frameworks and models in emerging areas in cognition research, this book will be of interest to students, researchers and teachers of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neurosciences, medical sciences, and computer sciences. It will also be helpful for academicians, psychologists, neuroscientists, mental health professionals, medical professionals, counsellors, and those looking for an alternate perspective on the topic.

How the way we perceive our bodies plays a critical role in the way we perceive ourselves: stories of phantom limbs, rubber hands, anorexia, and other phenomena.The body is central to our sense of identity. It can be a canvas for self-expression, decorated with clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, tattoos, and piercings. But the body is more than that. Bodily awareness, says scientist-writer Moheb Costandi, is key to self-consciousness. In Body Am I, Costandi examines how the brain perceives the body, how that perception translates into our conscious experience of the body, and how that experience contributes to our sense of self. Along the way, he explores what can happen when the mechanisms of bodily awareness are disturbed, leading to such phenomena as phantom limbs, alien hands, and amputee fetishes. Costandi explains that the brain generates maps and models of the body that guide how we perceive and use it, and that these maps and models are repeatedly modified and reconstructed. Drawing on recent bodily awareness research, the new science of self-consciousness, and historical milestones in neurology, he describes a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders that result when body and brain are out of sync, including not only the well-known phantom limb syndrome but also phantom breast and phantom penis syndromes; body integrity identity disorder, which compels a person to disown and then amputate a healthy arm or leg; and such eating disorders as anorexia. Wide-ranging and meticulously researched, Body Am I (the title comes from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra) offers new insight into self-consciousness by describing it in terms of bodily awareness.

According to the World Health Organization, schizophrenia affects more than 21 million people worldwide, causing distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self, behavior, and hallucinations. Cognitive and Behavioral Dysfunction in Schizophrenia provides an overview of topics and theories related to cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. This book discusses what schizophrenia is and its relationship with the cognitive domains including, but not limited to, learning, working memory, attention, and both deductive and inductive reasoning. This book also reviews theories as to why some individuals develop schizophrenia following cannabis and amphetamine abuse and how these relate to additional cognitive problems. The book further discusses recent topics related to religious delusions in psychotic patients, impact of sleep on psychosis, how urban life increases the likelihood of developing schizophrenia, as well as sexual dysfunction in schizophrenia patients. Unlike other books, Cognitive and Behavioral Dysfunction in Schizophrenia covers many cognitive domains related to the occurrence and development of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Advanced students and researchers in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy will find it useful for a well-rounded understanding of the subject. - Covers neural and behavioral studies addressing the symptomology of schizophrenia - Discusses recent studies of the relationship between cognition and schizophrenia symptoms - Reviews the development of schizophrenia due to genetic and environmental factors

A candid and practical guide to the new frontier of brain customizationDozens of books promise to improve your brain function with a gimmick. Lifestyle changes, microdosing, electromagnetic stimulation: just one weird trick can lightly alter or dramatically deconstruct your brain.In truth, there is no one-size-fits-all shortcut to the ideal mind. Instead, the way to understand cognitive enhancement is to think like a tailor: measure how you need your brain to change and then find a plan that suits it.In The Tailored Brain, Emily Willingham explores the promises and limitations of well-known and emerging methods of brain customization, including prescription drugs, diets, and new research on the power of your “social brain.”Packed with real-life examples and checklists that allow readers to better understand their cognitive needs, this is the definitive guide to a better brain.

Cognition and Addiction: A Researcher's Guide from Mechanisms Towards Interventions provides researchers with a guide to recent cognitive neuroscience advances in addiction theory, phenotyping, treatments and new vistas, including both substance and behavioral addictions. This book focuses on'what to know and'how to apply information, prioritizing novel principles and delineating cutting-edge assessment, phenotyping and treatment tools. Written by world renowned researcher Antonio Verdejo-Garcia, this resource will become a go-to guide for researchers in the field of cognitive neuroscience and addiction. - Examines cognitive neuroscience advances in addiction theory, including both substance and behavioral addictions - Discusses primary principles of cutting-edge assessment, phenotyping and treatment tools - Includes detailed chapters on neuro-epidemiology and genetic imaging

Cognitive Development and Cognitive Neuroscience: The Learning Brain is a thoroughly revised edition of the bestselling Cognitive Development. The new edition of this full-colour textbook has been updated with the latest research in cognitive neuroscience, going beyond Piaget and traditional theories to demonstrate how emerging data from the brain sciences require a new theoretical framework for teaching cognitive development, based on learning. Building on the framework for teaching cognitive development presented in the first edition, Goswami shows how different cognitive domains such as language, causal reasoning and theory of mind may emerge from automatic neural perceptual processes. Cognitive Neuroscience and Cognitive Development integrates principles and data from cognitive science, neuroscience, computer modelling and studies of non-human animals into a model that transforms the study of cognitive development to produce both a key introductory text and a book which encourages the reader to move beyond the superficial and gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Cognitive Development and Cognitive Neuroscience is essential for students of developmental and cognitive psychology, education, language and the learning sciences. It will also be of interest to anyone training to work with children.

Sleep Deprivation and Cognition, Volume 247, the latest release in the Progress in Brain Research series, covers the effects of sleep deprivation, with this new release featuring sections on the Impact of sleep deprivation on long-term memory, Adolescent sleep restriction effects on cognition and mood, Self- regulation and social behavior during sleep deprivation, Experiential decision-making and the effects of sleep loss, Sleep deprivation and dynamic attentional control, a Pharmacogenetic approach to understanding sleep deprivation and cognition, Neuroimaging of functional connectivity in the sleep-deprived brain: what does it tell us?, and more. - Brings together scientists working in the area of sleep deprivation with scientists involved in research and theory in cognitive neuroscience - Fosters theory-driven research on sleep loss and cognition while also advancing a general understanding of cognitive neuroscience - Provides a foundation for the design of countermeasures to prevent human errors and accidents caused by sleep loss

Finalist in the 2020 PROSE Awards Brain aging—and human aging more broadly—has long been seen as a process of slow, and inevitable, deterioration and decline. Today, this view has been challenged with research demonstrating a more complex set of changes - growth, decline, adaptation, selectivity, and reorganization - in brain structure and function across adulthood. In fact, research in both behavioral and brain science shows that not all cognitive processes decline with age, that in fact some improve over the course of adulthood, and those that improve can often compensate for those that decline. It turns out that the aging brain is very much alive, a remarkable example of life's ability to survive and adapt in increasingly challenging environments. Chapters in this multidisciplinary volume examine structural and related functional changes in the aging brain, and the neural mechanisms underlying such changes; age-related changes in learning and episodic memory; risk and protective factors; and the assessment and prevention of cognitive decline.

Originally published in 1980, this is a book about the psychology of figurative language. It is however, eclectic and therefore should be of interest to professionals and students in education, linguistics, philosophy, sociolinguistics, and other concerned with meaning and cognition. The editors felt there was a pressing need to bring together the growing empirical efforts of this topic. In a sense, recognition of the theoretical importance of figurative language symbolized the transition from the psycholinguistics of the 1960s to that of the late 1970s, that is from a linguistic semantics to a more comprehensive psychological semantics with a healthy respect for context, inference, world knowledge, and above all creative imagination. The organization of the volume reflects the more basic, general concerns with cognition – from historical and philosophical background, through problems of mental representation and semantic theory, to developmental trends, and to applications in problem solving.

Where do spontaneous thoughts come from? It may be surprising that the seemingly straightforward answers'from the mind'or'from the brain'are in fact an incredibly recent understanding of the origins of spontaneous thought. For nearly all of human history, our thoughts - especially the most sudden, insightful, and important - were almost universally ascribed to divine or other external sources. Only in the past few centuries have we truly taken responsibility for their own mental content, and finally localized thought to the central nervous system - laying the foundations for a protoscience of spontaneous thought. But enormous questions still loom: what, exactly, is spontaneous thought? Why does our brain engage in spontaneous forms of thinking, and when is this most likely to occur? And perhaps the question most interesting and accessible from a scientific perspective: how does the brain generate and evaluate its own spontaneous creations? Spontaneous thought includes our daytime fantasies and mind-wandering; the flashes of insight and inspiration familiar to the artist, scientist, and inventor; and the nighttime visions we call dreams. This Handbook brings together views from neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, phenomenology, history, education, contemplative traditions, and clinical practice to begin to address the ubiquitous but poorly understood mental phenomena that we collectively call'spontaneous thought.'In studying such an abstruse and seemingly impractical subject, we should remember that our capacity for spontaneity, originality, and creativity defines us as a species - and as individuals. Spontaneous forms of thought enable us to transcend not only the here and now of perceptual experience, but also the bonds of our deliberately-controlled and goal-directed cognition; they allow the space for us to be other than who we are, and for our minds to think beyond the limitations of our current viewpoints and beliefs.

This book explores a central question in the study of depth perception -'does the visual system rely upon objective knowledge and subjective meaning to specify visual depth?'Linton advances an alternative interpretation to the generally accepted affirmative answer, according to which many of the apparent contributions of knowledge and meaning to depth perception are better understood as contributions to our post-perceptual cognition of depth. In order to defend this position a new account of visual cognition is required, as well as a better understanding of the optical and physiological cues to depth. This book will appeal to students and researchers in psychology, vision science, and philosophy, as well as technologists and content creators working in virtual and augmented reality.

This work examines the cognitive capacity of great apes in order to better understand early man and the importance of memory in the evolutionary process. It synthesizes research from comparative cognition, neuroscience, primatology as well as lithic archaeology, reviewing findings on the cognitive ability of great apes to recognize the physical properties of an object and then determine the most effective way in which to manipulate it as a tool to achieve a specific goal. The authors argue that apes (Hominoidea) lack the human cognitive ability of imagining how to blend reality, which requires drawing on memory in order to envisage alternative future situations, and thereby modifying behavior determined by procedural memory. This book reviews neuroscientific findings on short-term working memory, long-term procedural memory, prospective memory, and imaginative forward thinking in relation to manual behavior. Since the manipulation of objects by Hominoidea in the wild (particularly in order to obtain food) is regarded as underlying the evolution of behavior in early Hominids, contrasts are highlighted between the former and the latter, especially the cognitive implications of ancient stone-tool preparation.

This book examines why humans have big brains, what big brains enable us to do, and how specialized brains are associated with eusociality in animals. It explores why brains expanded so slowly, and then why they stopped growing. This book whittles down the theories on brain size evolution to a few that represent testable hypotheses to identify logical and practical explanations for the phenomenon. At the core of this book is data derived from original, previously unpublished research on brain size in a number of social mammals. This data supports the idea that evolution of the brain in humans is the result of social interaction. This book also traces the products of the social brain: ideology, religion, urban life, housing, and learning and adapting to dense complex social interactions. It uniquely compares brain evolution in social animals across the animal kingdom, and examines the nature of the human brain and its evolution within the social and historical context of complex human social structures.

Dr. John Bargh, the world's leading expert on the unconscious mind, presents a “brilliant and convincing book” (Malcolm Gladwell) cited as an outstanding read of 2017 by Business Insider and The Financial Times—giving us an entirely new understanding of the hidden mental processes that secretly govern every aspect of our behavior.For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has conducted revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research featured in bestsellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said was “the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past twenty years,” Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways. Dr. Bargh takes us into his labs at New York University and Yale—where he and his colleagues have discovered how the unconscious guides our behavior, goals, and motivations in areas like race relations, parenting, business, consumer behavior, and addiction. With infectious enthusiasm he reveals what science now knows about the pervasive influence of the unconscious mind in who we choose to date or vote for, what we buy, where we live, how we perform on tests and in job interviews, and much more. Because the unconscious works in ways we are completely unaware of, Before You Know It is full of surprising and entertaining revelations as well as useful tricks to help you remember items on your to-do list, to shop smarter, and to sleep better. Before You Know It is “a fascinating compendium of landmark social-psychology research” (Publishers Weekly) and an introduction to a fabulous world that exists below the surface of your awareness and yet is the key to knowing yourself and unlocking new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts themselves present career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces - extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, and their major practical theoretical contributions. Glyn Humphreys is an internationally renowned cognitive neuropsychologist with research interests covering object recognition and its disorders, visual word recognition, object and spatial attention, the effects of action on cognition, and social cognition. Within the field of Psychology he has won a number of prestigious awards, including the Spearman Medal, the President's Award of the British Psychological Society, and the Donald Broadbent Prize from the European Society for Cognitive Psychology. This collection reflects the different directions in his work and approaches which have been adopted. It will enable the reader to trace key developments in cognitive neuropsychology in a period of rapid change over the last thirty years. A newly written introduction contextualises the selection in relation to changes in the field during this time. Attention, Perception and Action will be invaluable reading for students and researchers in visual cognition, cognitive neuropsychology and vision neuroscience.

This revised and updated second edition provides a practical and structured overview of some of the most commonly used and easily available cognitive screening instruments applicable in the outpatient clinic and bedside setting. It now includes additional chapters on AD8 and also methodological aspects of systematic cognitive screening instrument assessment from the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group.Expert authors from around the world equip the reader with clear instructions on the usage of each screening instrument, its strengths and weaknesses, and the time required for administration. Rules on scoring are also provided, such as how to correct for variations in the patient's age or education, and suggested cut-off scores.Cognitive Screening Instruments: A Practical Approach, Second Edition is aimed at both clinicians and professionals in disciplines allied to medicine who are called upon to assess patients with possible cognitive disorders, including neurologists, old age psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, primary care physicians, dementia support workers, and members of memory assessment teams.

In this book, top scientists from a variety of fields investigate the development of executive function (EF), a term that encompasses a range of mental processes that together regulate our social behavior and our cognitive and emotional well-being.

How Creativity Happens In The Brain is about the brain mechanisms of creativity, how a grapefruit-sized heap of meat crackling with electricity manages to be so outrageously creative. It has a sharp focus: to stick exclusively to sound, mechanistic explanations and convey what we can, and cannot, say about how brains give rise to creative ideas.

The work of Richard M. Shiffrin has highly impacted the field of cognitive science, and current developments within perception and memory have been influenced by his ideas. In this volume, several key figures in the field will comment on these developments and put them in a wider perspective. Although many theories and models have been presented in recent years for various aspects of human cognition, there have not been many comparative evaluations that focus on how these models have really advanced our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. This volume will be a valuable source of information for both cognitive scientists working in the field, and researchers and students looking for a clear, accessible presentation of the key problems in cognitive science. Highlighted sections include attention and perception, memory functions and processes, knowledge representation and semantics, modelling approaches and applications.

Do you wish you could recall the names of people you just met? What if birthdays, important errands, and online passwords rarely slipped your mind? Psychologist Robert Madigan is an expert in the'memory arts'--practical, proven methods for improving the ability to retain and use information. Like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, it's important to exercise memory in simple ways every day. That's where this science-based guide can help. Dr. Madigan explains how memory works and presents innovative mnemonic devices and visualization techniques that will help you sharpen your mental skills; avoid embarrassing lapses; and remember faces, appointments, facts, numbers, lists, and much more. Reclaim your brain--this book shows how.

A world-class thinker counts the 100 ways in which humans behave irrationally, showing us what we can do to recognize and minimize these “thinking errors” to make better decisions and have a better life Despite the best of intentions, humans are notoriously bad—that is, irrational—when it comes to making decisions and assessing risks and tradeoffs. Psychologists and neuroscientists refer to these distinctly human foibles, biases, and thinking traps as “cognitive errors.” Cognitive errors are systematic deviances from rationality, from optimized, logical, rational thinking and behavior. We make these errors all the time, in all sorts of situations, for problems big and small: whether to choose the apple or the cupcake; whether to keep retirement funds in the stock market when the Dow tanks, or whether to take the advice of a friend over a stranger. The “behavioral turn” in neuroscience and economics in the past twenty years has increased our understanding of how we think and how we make decisions. It shows how systematic errors mar our thinking and under which conditions our thought processes work best and worst. Evolutionary psychology delivers convincing theories about why our thinking is, in fact, marred. The neurosciences can pinpoint with increasing precision what exactly happens when we think clearly and when we don't.Drawing on this wide body of research, The Art of Thinking Clearly is an entertaining presentation of these known systematic thinking errors--offering guidance and insight into everything why you shouldn't accept a free drink to why you SHOULD walk out of a movie you don't like it to why it's so hard to predict the future to why shouldn't watch the news. The book is organized into 100 short chapters, each covering a single cognitive error, bias, or heuristic. Examples of these concepts include: Reciprocity, Confirmation Bias, The It-Gets-Better-Before-It-Gets-Worse Trap, and the Man-With-A-Hammer Tendency. In engaging prose and with real-world examples and anecdotes, The Art of Thinking Clearly helps solve the puzzle of human reasoning.

Assistive technology for cognition is technology which can be used to enable, enhance, or extend cognitive function. This book systematically examines how cutting-edge digital technologies can assist the cognitive function of people with cognitive impairments, with the potential to revolutionize rehabilitation. Technologies are reviewed which direct attention, remind, recognize, prompt, and generally guide people through activities of daily living. Written by experts in neuropsychology and technology development, Assistive Technology for Cognition provides a comprehensive overview of the efficacy of technologies to assist people with brain impairments. Based on the list provided by the International Classification of Function, each chapter covers a different cognitive function; namely, attention, memory, affect, perception, executive function, language, numeracy, sequencing, and navigation onto which existing and future assistive technologies for cognition are mapped. This structure provides in-depth research in an accessible way, and will allow practitioners to move from an assessment of cognitive deficits to the prescription of an appropriate assistive technology for cognition. The chapters also make suggestions for future developments.Assistive Technology for Cognition will be of great interest to clinicians and researchers working in brain injury rehabilitation, technology developers, and also to students in clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and allied health disciplines.

A novel proposal that the unified nature of our cognition can be partially explained by a cognitive architecture based on graphical models. Our ordinary, everyday thinking requires an astonishing range of cognitive activities, yet our cognition seems to take place seamlessly. We move between cognitive processes with ease, and different types of cognition seem to share information readily. In this book, David Danks proposes a novel cognitive architecture that can partially explain two aspects of human cognition: its relatively integrated nature and our effortless ability to focus on the relevant factors in any particular situation. Danks argues that both of these features of cognition are naturally explained if many of our cognitive representations are understood to be structured like graphical models. The computational framework of graphical models is widely used in machine learning, but Danks is the first to offer a book-length account of its use to analyze multiple areas of cognition. Danks demonstrates the usefulness of this approach by reinterpreting a variety of cognitive theories in terms of graphical models. He shows how we can understand much of our cognition—in particular causal learning, cognition involving concepts, and decision making—through the lens of graphical models, thus clarifying a range of data from experiments and introspection. Moreover, Danks demonstrates the important role that cognitive representations play in a unified understanding of cognition, arguing that much of our cognition can be explained in terms of different cognitive processes operating on a shared collection of cognitive representations. Danks's account is mathematically accessible, focusing on the qualitative aspects of graphical models and separating the formal mathematical details in the text.

Experts describe current perspectives and experimental approaches to understanding the neural bases of creativity. This volume offers a comprehensive overview of the latest neuroscientific approaches to the scientific study of creativity. In chapters that progress logically from neurobiological fundamentals to systems neuroscience and neuroimaging, leading scholars describe the latest theoretical, genetic, structural, clinical, functional, and applied research on the neural bases of creativity. The treatment is both broad and in depth, offering a range of neuroscientific perspectives with detailed coverage by experts in each area. The contributors discuss such issues as the heritability of creativity; creativity in patients with brain damage, neurodegenerative conditions, and mental illness; clinical interventions and the relationship between psychopathology and creativity; neuroimaging studies of intelligence and creativity; the neuroscientific basis of creativity-enhancing methodologies; and the information-processing challenges of viewing visual art.ContributorsBaptiste Barbot, Mathias Benedek, David Q. Beversdorf, Aaron P. Blaisdell, Margaret A. Boden, Dorret I. Boomsma, Adam S. Bristol, Shelley Carson, Marleen H. M. de Moor, Andreas Fink, Liane Gabora, Dennis Garlick, Elena L. Grigorenko, Richard J. Haier, Rex E. Jung, James C. Kaufman, Helmut Leder, Kenneth J. Leising, Bruce L. Miller, Apara Ranjan, Mark P. Roeling, W. David Stahlman, Mei Tan, Pablo P. L. Tinio, Oshin Vartanian, Indre V. Viskontas, Dahlia W. Zaidel

A book that promotes the thesis that basic forms of mentality—intentionally directed cognition and perceptual experience—are best understood as embodied yet contentless.Most of what humans do and experience is best understood in terms of dynamically unfolding interactions with the environment. Many philosophers and cognitive scientists now acknowledge the critical importance of situated, environment-involving embodied engagements as a means of understanding basic minds—including basic forms of human mentality. Yet many of these same theorists hold fast to the view that basic minds are necessarily or essentially contentful—that they represent conditions the world might be in. In this book, Daniel Hutto and Erik Myin promote the cause of a radically enactive, embodied approach to cognition that holds that some kinds of minds—basic minds—are neither best explained by processes involving the manipulation of contents nor inherently contentful. Hutto and Myin oppose the widely endorsed thesis that cognition always and everywhere involves content. They defend the counter-thesis that there can be intentionality and phenomenal experience without content, and demonstrate the advantages of their approach for thinking about scaffolded minds and consciousness.

The book explains how to understand cognition in terms of brain anatomy, physiology and chemistry, using an approach adapted from techniques for understanding complex electronic systems. These techniques create hierarchies of information process based descriptions on different levels of detail, where higher levels contain less information and can therefore describe complete cognitive phenomena, but are more approximate. The nature of the approximations are well understood, and more approximate higher level descriptions can therefore be mapped to more precise detailed descriptions of any part of a phenomenon as required. Cognitive phenomena, the anatomy and connectivity of major brain structures, neuron physiology, and cellular chemistry are reviewed. Various cognitive tasks are described in terms of information processes performed by different major anatomical structures. These higher level descriptions are selectively mapped to more detailed physiological and chemical levels.

Integrating cutting-edge research from multiple disciplines, this book provides a dynamic and holistic picture of the developing infant mind. Contributors explore the transactions among genes, the brain, and the environment in the earliest years of life. The volume probes the neural correlates of core sensory, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social capacities. It highlights the importance of early relationships, presenting compelling findings on how parent-infant interactions influence neural processing and brain maturation. Innovative research methods are discussed, including applications of behavioral, hormonal, genetic, and brain imaging technologies.

Cognitive Screening Instruments: A Practical Approach provides a practical and structured overview of some of the most commonly used and easily available cognitive screening instruments applicable in the outpatient clinic and bedside setting. Dementia and cognitive disorders are now recognised as an increasing public health problem, both in terms of patient numbers and cost, as populations age throughout the world. Despite this, many patients with dementia never receive a formal diagnosis, with implications for their appropriate care and management. Diagnostic tests which identify cases of dementia therefore have an important role.Expert authors from around the world equip the reader of Cognitive Screening Instruments: A Practical Approach with clear instructions on the usage of each screening instrument, its strengths and weaknesses, the time required for administration, and rules on scoring, such as how to correct for variations in the patient's age or education, and suggested cut-off scores. Cognitive Screening Instruments: A Practical Approach is a handy, illustrated guide and a valuable diagnostic aid for practitioners working closely with patients with dementia and mild cognitive impairment. This volume will be of use both to clinicians and to professionals in disciplines allied to medicine who are called upon to assess patients with possible cognitive disorders, including neurologists, old age psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, primary care physicians, dementia support workers, and members of memory assessment teams.

First published in 1982. This book contains the content of the Indiana Conference of 1974. This Conference has met for each of the last seven years. At one time it was known as the Midwestern Mathematical Psychology Meeting, but as interest drifted toward more experimental and theoretical, but less purely mathematical work, the title became the Indiana Theoretical and Cognitive Psychology Meetings. The contributors to this Conference were requested to emphasize the relatively broad theoretical significance of their work, to incorporate the work of others, and if they were willing, to speculate about future developments

Even though I had been studying reading problems in children for a number of years as a means of understanding cognitive processes, I became deeply committed to the study of developmental dyslexia after my encounter with S. H., a dyslexic college student. Until then, dyslexia to me remained an interesting phenomenon but somewhat removed from the mainstream of my research interests. The facts that, in spite of his superior IQ, S. H. could read no better than a child in the fifth grade and misspelled even common words such as was and here, however, took me by surprise and made me appreciate the intriguing and challenging nature of developmental dyslexia. This led to a series of studies of college students with reading disability, a group that is relatively unexplored. The general plan of these investigations was to study a small number of disabled readers at any given time, rather intensively. Even though this approach limits the generalizability of the research findings, it lays bare some of the most interesting facts about dyslexia which are obscured in large-scale statistical studies. These studies have now extended well over a decade and are still continuing. As soon as these studies were started, it became obvious that not all reading-disabled college students are alike and that disabled readers could be classified into three broad categories: those with poor decod­ ing skill, those with poor comprehension ability, and those with a combination of these two deficits.

After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system. Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss the development and uniqueness of human consciousness, how human and nonhuman brains work, the roles of different nerve cells, the importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more. Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history—an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags—that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.

When fishing for happiness, catch and release. Remember these seven words -- they are the keys to being happy. So says Shimon Edelman, an expert on psychology and the mind. In The Happiness of Pursuit, Edelman offers a fundamental understanding of pleasure and joy via the brain. Using the concept of the mind as a computing device, he unpacks how the human brain is highly active, involved in patterned networks, and constantly learning from experience. As our brains predict the future through pursuit of experience, we are rewarded both in real time and in the long run. Essentially, as Edelman discovers, it's the journey, rather than the destination, that matters. The idea that cognition is computation -- the brain is a machine -- is nothing new of course. But, as Edelman argues, the mind is actually a bundle of ongoing computations, essentially, the brain being one of many possible substrates that can support them. Edelman makes the case for these claims by constructing a conceptual toolbox that offers readers a glimpse of the computations underlying the mind's faculties: perception, motivation and emotions, action, memory, thinking, social cognition, learning and language. It is this collection of tools that enables us to discover how and why happiness happens. An informative, accessible, and witty tour of the mind, The Happiness of Pursuit offers insights to a thorough understanding of what minds are, how they relate to each other and to the world, and how we can make the best of it all.

A novel proposal that the cognitive architecture for volition and cognition arises from particular kinds of social interaction and communication.In Open Minds, Wolfgang Prinz offers the novel claim that agency and intentionality are first perceived and understood in others, and that it is only through practices and discourses of social mirroring that individuals come to apply these features to themselves and to shape their architectures for volition and cognition accordingly. Developing a (social science) constructive approach within a (cognitive science) representational framework, Prinz argues that the architectures for agency (volition) and intentionality (cognition) arise from particular kinds of social interaction and communication. Rather than working as closed, individual systems, our minds operate in ways that are fundamentally open to other minds.Prinz describes mirror systems and mirror games, particular kinds of representational mechanisms and social games that provide tools for aligning closed individual minds with other minds. He maps the formation of an architecture for volition, addressing issues of agency and intention-based top-down control, then outlines the ways the same basic ideas can be applied to an architecture for cognition, helping to solve basic issues of subjectivity and intentionality.Addressing the reality and efficacy of such social artifacts as autonomy and free will, Prinz contends that our beliefs about minds are not just beliefs about their workings but powerful tools for making them work as we believe. It is through our beliefs that our minds work in a particular way that we actually make them work in that way.

Humans'development of literacy has been a recent focus of intense research from the reading, cognitive, and neuroscience fields. But for individuals who are deaf—who rely greatly on their visual skills for language and learning—the findings don't necessarily apply, leaving theoretical and practical gaps in approaches to their education. Assessing Literacy in Deaf Individuals: Neurocognitive Measurement and Predictors narrows these gaps by introducing the VL2 Toolkit, a comprehensive test battery for assessing the academic skills and cognitive functioning of deaf persons who use sign language. Skills measured include executive functioning, memory, reading, visuospatial ability, writing fluency, math, and expressive and receptive language. Comprehensive data are provided for each, with discussion of validity and reliability issues as well as ethical and legal questions involved in the study. And background chapters explain how the Toolkit was compiled, describing the procedures of the study, its rationale, and salient characteristics of its participants. This notable book:Describes each Toolkit instrument and the psychometric properties it measures. Presents detailed findings on test measures and relationships between skills.Discusses issues and challenges relating to visual representations of English, including fingerspelling and lipreading.Features a factor analysis of the Toolkit measures to identify underlying cognitive structures in deaf learners.Reviews trends in American Sign Language assessment.Assessing Literacy in Deaf Individuals is an essential reference for researchers, graduate students, clinicians, and other professionals working in the field of deafness and deaf education across in such areas as clinical child and school psychology, audiology, and linguistics.

The Paradoxical Brain focuses on a range of phenomena in clinical and cognitive neuroscience that are counterintuitive and go against the grain of established thinking. The book covers a wide range of topics by leading researchers, including: • Superior performance after brain lesions or sensory loss • Return to normal function after a second brain lesion in neurological conditions • Paradoxical phenomena associated with human development • Examples where having one disease appears to prevent the occurrence of another disease • Situations where drugs with adverse effects on brain functioning may have beneficial effects in certain situations A better understanding of these interactions will lead to a better understanding of brain function and to the introduction of new therapeutic strategies. The book will be of interest to those working at the interface of brain and behaviour, including neuropsychologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists.

The study of mathematical cognition and the ways in which the ideas of space, time and number are encoded in brain circuitry has become a fundamental issue for neuroscience. How such encoding differs across cultures and educational level is of further interest in education and neuropsychology. This rapidly expanding field of research is overdue for an interdisciplinary volume such as this, which deals with the neurological and psychological foundations of human numeric capacity. A uniquely integrative work, this volume provides a much needed compilation of primary source material to researchers from basic neuroscience, psychology, developmental science, neuroimaging, neuropsychology and theoretical biology. - The first comprehensive and authoritative volume dealing with neurological and psychological foundations of mathematical cognition - Uniquely integrative volume at the frontier of a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field - Features outstanding and truly international scholarship, with chapters written by leading experts in a variety of fields

There is a critical, bidirectional relationship between sleep and cognition, yet the literature in this area is scattered, and it is surprisingly difficult to find a comprehensive overview of the basic principles, latest discoveries, and outstanding challenges. This issue of Progress in Brain Research is split over 2 volumes, bringing together cutting-edge research on the topic in the basic, clinical and applied sciences. The 2 volumes review current knowledge and understanding, provide a starting point for researchers and practitioners entering the field, and build a platform for further research and discovery. - Leading authors review the state-of-the-art in their field of investigation, and provide their views and perspectives for future research - Chapters are extensively referenced to provide readers with a comprehensive list of resources on the topics covered - All chapters include comprehensive background information and are written in a clear form that is also accessible to the non-specialist

Leaders in the cognitive neurosciences address a variety of topics in the field and reflect on Michael Gazzaniga's pioneering work and enduring influence.These essays on a range of topics in the cognitive neurosciences report on the progress in the field over the twenty years of its existence and reflect the many groundbreaking scientific contributions and enduring influence of Michael Gazzaniga,'the godfather of cognitive neuroscience'—founder of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, founding editor of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and editor of the major reference work, The Cognitive Neurosciences, now in its fourth edition (MIT Press, 2009). The essays, grouped into four sections named after four of Gazzaniga's books, combine science and memoir in varying proportions, and offer an authoritative survey of research in cognitive neuroscience.'The Bisected Brain'examines hemispheric topics pioneered by Gazzaniga at the start of his career;'The Integrated Mind'explores the theme of integration by domination; the wide-ranging essays in'The Social Brain'address subjects from genes to neurons to social conversations and networks; the topics explored in'Mind Matters'include evolutionary biology, methodology, and ethics.ContributorsKathleen Baynes, Giovanni Berlucchi, Leo M. Chalupa, Mark D'Esposito, Margaret G. Funnell, Mitchell Glickstein, Scott A. Guerin, Todd F. Heatherton, Steven A. Hillyard, William Hirst, Alan Kingstone, Stephen M. Kosslyn, Marta Kutas, Elisabetta Làdavas, Joseph Ledoux, George R. Mangun, Michael B. Miller, Elizabeth A. Phelps, Steven Pinker, Michael I. Posner, Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz, Mary K. Rothbart, Andrea Serino, Brad E. Sheese

A new term has emerged from the disability movement in the past decade to help change the way we think about neurological disorders: Neurodiversity. ADHD. Dyslexia. Autism. The number of categories of illnesses listed by the American Psychiatric Association has tripled in the past fifty years. With so many people affected by our growing -- culture of disabilities, -- it no longer makes sense to hold on to the deficit-ridden idea of neuropsychological illness. With the sensibility of Oliver Sacks and Kay Redfield Jamison, psychologist Thomas Armstrong offers a revolutionary perspective that reframes many neuropsychological disorders as part of the natural diversity of the human brain rather than as definitive illnesses. Neurodiversity emphasizes their positive dimensions, showing how people with ADHD, bipolar disorder, and other conditions have inherent evolutionary advantages that, matched with the appropriate environment or ecological niche, can help them achieve dignity and wholeness in their lives.

Human Sleep and Cognition

For religious persons, the notion of human being is tied inextricably to the notion of God (or the gods) and turns on this question: what is human being? How did we, with our almost infinite capacities for thought, change, and domination, come to be? Imbued with powers far beyond any other animal, humans are too faulty to be considered gods themselves. Yet, the idea of God (or the gods) appears in all distinctive human cultures: it names the other pole of human_it designates a being who realizes perfectly our imperfectly realized nature. With the rise of new sciences come ancient anxieties about how we should define human being. In the nineteenth century, electricity and magnetism fascinated experts and captivated the lay public. In the twenty-first century, advances in neuroscience open up vast new possibilities of mimicking, and perhaps emulating human being. In this book twelve scholars and scientists ask what_if anything_distinguishes Brain from Mind, and Mind from Self and Soul.

Consciousness has long been a subject of interest in philosophy and religion but only relatively recently has it become subject to scientific investigation. Now, more than ever before, we are beginning to understand this mental state. Developmental psychologists understand when we first develop a sense of self; neuropsychologists see which parts of the brain activate when we think about ourselves and which parts of the brain control that awareness. Cognitive scientists have mapped the circuitry that allows machines to have some form of self awareness, and neuroscientists investigate similar circuitry in the human brain. Research that once was separate inquiries in discreet disciplines is converging. List serves and small conferences focused on consciousness are proliferating. New journals have emerged in this field. A huge number of monographs and edited treatises have recently been published on consciousness, but there is no recognized entry point to the field, no comprehensive summary. This encyclopedia is that reference. Organized alphabetically by topic, coverage encompasses a summary of major research and scientific thought regarding the nature of consciousness, the neural circuitry involved, how the brain, body, and world interact, and our understanding of subjective states. The work includes contributions covering neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence to provide a comprehensive backdrop to recent and ongoing investigations into the nature of conscious experience from a philosophical, psychological, and biological perspective.

This volume presents recent empirical advances using neuroscience techniques to investigate how culture influences neural processes underlying a wide range of human abilities, from perception and scene processing to memory and social cognition. It also highlights the theoretical and methodological issues with conducting cultural neuroscience research. Section I provides diverse theoretical perspectives on how culture and biology interact are represented. Sections II –VI is to demonstrate how cultural values, beliefs, practices and experience affect neural systems underlying a wide range of human behavior from perception and cognition to emotion, social cognition and decision-making. The final section presents arguments for integrating the study of culture and the human brain by providing an explicit articulation of how the study of culture can inform the study of the brain and vice versa.

In a broad sense, neuropsychology stands for the branch of brain sciences that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific cognitive and psychological processes. The idea of developing a research field somewhere between neurology and cognitive psychology emerged in the 1960s as a result of studies conducted by both disciplines which, although using different methodologies and tools, were analysing the same issues. Neuropsychology particularly puts emphasis on the clinical and experimental study of the cognitive effects of brain injury or neurological diseases, taking models of normal cognitive functioning into account. Neuropsychological Research: A Review provides a meticulous overview of what has been achieved in the field of cognitive neuropsychology from its early beginnings in the 1960s and 1970s to the present day. Authors include some of the pioneers involved in the genesis of neuropsychology as an independent and distinct field of neuroscience. The comprehensive coverage includes language disorders, skilled movement disorders, recognition disorders, attentional and executive disorders, visuo-perceptual disorders, memory disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.This fascinating text forms an enjoyable tribute to the rich heritage of neuropsychology, and will be essential reading for researchers and students of neuropsychology, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, and behavioural neuroscience.