The criterion validity of the new subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Third Edition (WAIS–III; Wechsler, 1997) was evaluated in a sample of 100 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Letter–Number Sequencing and Symbol Search, but not Matrix Reasoning, yielded statistically significant differences in performance between patients with moderate–severe TBI, patients with mild TBI, and demographically matched controls. Level of education accounted for a statistically significant amount of variance in the performance of patients with TBI, in addition to that explained by injury severity variables. It is concluded that Letter–Number Sequencing and Symbol Search have satisfactory criterion validity, but that they need to be supplemented with other measures in the context of neuropsychological evaluations. Matrix Reasoning, on the other hand, is not sensitive to the sequelae of TBI and more studies are needed to determine how it can be used for neuropsychological assessment purposes. (JINS, 2001, 7, 892–898.)

All you ever wanted to know about the human frontal lobes seems to be contained in this multiauthored text, at least up to 1996 or 1997. The editors, Miller and Cummings, are acknowledged experts on the topic of human disorders of the frontal lobes. They have done a monumental job of collecting 53 authors and 34 chapters. The book is divided into five sections, frontal lobe neuroanatomy, frontal lobe neurochemistry and neurophysiology, frontal lobe neuropsychology, neurological diseases involving the frontal lobes, and psychiatric diseases involving the frontal lobes.

The findings reported in the Letter to the Editor authored by Bungener and Jouvent are consistent with results we have presented here (Castellon et al., 2000) and again underscore the importance of considering the potentially multifactorial nature of depression in many neurologic diseases/disorders. We have suggested, although the idea is hardly a new one, that depression in HIV/AIDS can be secondary to any of multiple potential etiologies. For example, it may be a direct central nervous system (CNS) consequence of infection (i.e., neurochemical and/or neuropathological changes), a result of increased exposure to social, medical, and financial stressors secondary to living with HIV, a reaction to multiple losses (e.g., bereavement, loss of instrumental capacity), or be an admixture of multiple etiological factors. The phenomenology of this disruption of mood, motivation, and affect may differ as a function of etiology/pathophysiology. We believe that a prominent amotivation/apathy syndrome may be a more pure manifestation of the CNS effects of HIV-1 infection than is the more heterogeneous construct of depression and therefore more closely associated with other putative measures of CNS integrity (e.g., neurocognitive performance).

This handbook is an extensive reference source for clinical neuropsychology. It emerged from a 1988 Italian text and has mostly Italian contributors. The book is well organized and well written. The chapters include both theoretical thinking about and anatomic correlates of neuropsychological disorders in addition to their clinical features. This reviewer particularly liked the numerous theoretical discussions. Animal or cognitive experiments generally are not discussed. The topics cover current thinking in most areas and it is exceptionally well referenced with over 5000 citations.

The primary focus of this volume is on the impact of alcohol on brain development. It is a perfect example of how research on both animals and humans can interact to produce very important findings. In the case of prenatal alcohol exposure, dialogue between animal and human researchers has proved to be very profitable for both lines of research. Initial observations by human researchers identified a syndrome of facial stigmata, physical malformations, and early behavioral disturbances that was related to maternal alcohol abuse during pregnancy. They gave this syndrome the name Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. However, human researchers were unable to state unequivocally that prenatal alcohol exposure was teratogenic to the fetus. Thus, they turned to animal researchers who were able to model Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in a variety of animals and to confirm the teratogenicity of alcohol on the developing fetus. The quarter century of studies of the damage caused by prenatal alcohol exposure is replete with such interactions between these two groups of researchers. Without the input and pioneering studies of animal researchers on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure, human researchers would have much less understanding of the damage caused by alcohol exposure in utero or insights into possible treatment or remediation strategies for those damaged by alcohol exposure.

Aristotle was right: Give me a fixed point, and I will move the earth. The “earth” in this case is the urban, semiliterate, nontestwise patient, in particular from South Africa, with symptoms of mild or moderate head trauma and in need of neuropsychological assessment. The “fixed point” does not exist in the form of test given being the same as test received conceptually with valid norms to go with it. How then can we move the earth? With justice done to psychometric requirements and most importantly, to the mental abilities of the patient, we can not. The neuropsychological tests normed on Western subjects within the Western cultural sphere, has put this patient to a disadvantage.

Asperger's Syndrome, edited by Ami Klin and colleagues of the Yale University Child Study Center, contains contributions from 27 authors representing 13 universities, and several agencies and clinical practices in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the USA. This is a thorough and sorely needed review of the research, diagnostic process, treatment options, and outcomes associated with Asperger's syndrome (AS). Written for professionals, the volume is research-based, and in this relatively new field of study, is as useful in elucidating the questions still requiring investigation as in describing what is currently known. Several aspects of diagnosis are covered, including the development of AS as a formal diagnostic category, a review of clinical features and associated conditions, differential diagnostic considerations (particularly high functioning Autism, Schizoid Personality Disorder, developmental language disorders, and Nonverbal Learning Disability), and special consideration of the contributions of motor functioning, social language use, and neuropsychological functioning to differential diagnosis. Of special interest to neuropsychologists may be the chapter reviewing neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies of AS, from which inferences can be drawn about potential neurodevelopmental processes leading to the manifestations of this disorder. Other chapters focus on genetic factors, clinical outcomes in adolescence and adulthood, pharmacological intervention, and general treatment considerations. A chapter on assessment suggests practical guidelines for assessment of cognitive, neuropsychological, communicative, social–emotional, and adaptive functioning. A set of essays by parents closes the volume, providing an important reconnection to the everyday challenges faced by individuals with AS and their families.

This book, based on over two decades of research conducted by Robinson and colleagues, is primarily about poststroke emotional sequelae. Major topics include depression, mania, and anxiety, each organized by chapter headings and similar chapter subheadings. Robinson defines each emotional problem, explains how it is diagnosed, compares it to brain–behavior relationships, and recommends treatment, all the while weaving an empirical foundation that matches interpretations and ideas with results. The fabric of this foundation consists mainly of Robinson's collective research. Case histories sprinkled throughout capture the essence of his remarks, bringing them to life for the reader. Contributions of his predecessors are reported as an historical base. As a result, Robinson brings under one cover the wealth of knowledge and information we currently have on the subject of emotional disorders following vascular brain injury.

In this ambitious and densely written volume, Glezerman and Balkoski attempt to present their theory of the neural basis for language and thought, and provide evidence from the literature to support their model. Their model is based on a neurobehavioral analysis of movement by the Russian physiologist Nicolai Bernstein. He proposed “horizontal” (intrahemispheric), “vertical” (hierarchical), and interhemispheric principles of brain organization that Glezerman and Balkoski have applied to the cerebral organization of language. Bernstein's basic model is described in detail in the first chapter of the book. The subsequent four chapters each consider a specific brain region and a related aspect of language and thought. Each of these chapters begins with a description of the relevant neuroanatomy. The authors then review the cognitive processes and knowledge that this brain area supports. Each chapter then considers the relevant form of aphasia that emerges following insult to the area under discussion. For example, the second chapter is concerned with temporal–occipital cortices and the role of this brain region in visual object perception, thought, and the meanings of individual words. After describing the regional anatomy, the authors characterize their perspective on object perception and how the breakdown of this process can lead to visual agnosia. Glezerman and Balkoski then relate this to the cerebral organization of word meaning and to disorders of naming. Chapter 3 is concerned with lateral temporal cortex and phonologic representations of words. The authors discuss the sound codes of a word, and how this coding process can break down

This book represents the latest effort to summarize a field that has grown exponentially. As stated in the introduction to the book, the contentious nature of forensic neuropsychology has resulted in a range of opinion among even the most seasoned neuropsychologists. Consequently, I must be absolved for offering what may seemingly be a partisan slant in this review.

The authors of this compact and readable book, a neurologist and neuropsychologist, have attempted to present an overview of material necessary for the establishment of a clinic to treat those who have suffered a MHI. While the authors are clearly experts in the treatment of these patients and have presented many interesting points from a unique perspective, several limitations narrow the application of the authors' suggestions.

A few years ago, at the end of a lecture on handedness, a neuropsychology graduate student asked, “Why should I care about handedness? Left-handedness is not a disease.” She had missed the main point of the lecture, namely that left-handedness is an exciting experiment of nature. In the left-hander we find the opportunity to study a healthy brain that is organized differently from other healthy brains. Here is a chance to study the effects of neural diversity without the vagaries of pathology. The study of handedness differences is not just about handedness.

Today's neuropsychological practitioners have literally hundreds of assessment instruments in their toolbox, and every assessment entails decisions about which tests to use. In addition to practicality and relevance, a critical ingredient in the decision process concerns the availability of appropriate normative data on which to base clinical interpretation. The book by Mitrushina, Boone, and D'Elia goes a long way in making such valuable data readily available and in critically analyzing the current state of the art.

Far too few books are devoted to family reactions to brain injury. At best, chapters in neuropsychological rehabilitation books have examined this area, albeit mostly from a family support perspective (e.g., counseling, education, and family training). Harder to come by, however, are books concerned with family therapy, where treatment goals include bringing about behavioral change in a disturbed family unit by essentially psychological methods. This book attempts to do just that—synthesize family therapy principles and apply them specifically to traumatic brain injury and degenerative dementia.

The six chapters of this compact volume provide an economical introduction to the symptomology, assessment, and treatment approaches to visuospatial neglect. Neglect researchers may find themselves slightly disappointed by the scant attention devoted to theoretical issues regarding neural mechanisms or etiology. To be fair, however, the authors acknowledge that theoretical synthesis is not the purpose of the book,which is aimed primarily at an audience of clinicians and therapists. As such, this monograph admirably fulfills its mission, which is to provide a succinct but comprehensive overview of the clinical assessment and rehabilitation of neglect disorders.

The most compelling reason for studying the neuropsychology of aging is the fact that there are so many more people who are elderly. Worldwide average life expectancy has already increased more in the past 100 years than in the previous 2000 years, due mainly to public health advances which are consequently fueling a rapid population growth of the elderly. Gerontology (the study of aging) and Geriatrics (health care for the elderly) are expanding disciplines and will continue offering career and service opportunities to the increasing number people who are interested in answering the questions and addressing the problems of aging.

Alan Baddeley's delightful new book is another in the series “Cognitive Psychology: A Modular Course” and as such its purpose is to bring together research relevant to the topic of memory in a format that can be easily understood by undergraduate psychology students. It certainly achieves this aim, but will also be of interest to a wide range of readers, from the interested layperson to the experienced psychologist. Memory holds an important place in everyone's lives, and readers on the far side of middle-age may find this book particularly pertinent, and in most cases reassuring! Academic and professional psychologists from many different subdisciplines will find this an easy book to refer to when they want to refresh or update their memory about one or other aspect of memory. Likewise researchers and professionals from other disciplines such as neuroscience or medicine will find this book a gold-mine of information, both academic and practical.

This volume is part of the series Human Brain Function: Assessment and Rehabilitation and aims to present information regarding how brain function is assessed with neuropsychological instruments. In general, this text is designed to cover assessment from the perspective of both behavioral neurologists and neuropsychologists. The book is divided into three sections: “Developmental Considerations,” “Clinical Considerations,” and “Specialized Assessment.”

Neuropsychology owes much to the pioneering efforts of researchers in cognitive psychology. Theory and methods derived from the cognitive sciences have provided an important foundation for neuropsychology. The Attention and Performance series has been at the vanguard of cognitive psychology, both chronicling major developments in cognitive science that emerged over the past half century, and catalyzing new directions in cognitive theory, method, and application. Most students of psychology can probably recall some time during their undergraduate or graduate studies, pulling from university library shelves, one of the earlier volumes of this series, as they prepared a term paper, thesis, or research project. The 17th volume of Attention and Performance of this edited series was the product of the proceedings of the International Association for the Study of Attention and Performance, held in Haifa, Israel, 30 years after the first edition in 1966. Reviewing the topics covered in the earlier editions, one is struck by the extent to which this series has both mirrored current direction and anticipated shifts in the paradigms of cognitive science.

This volume is an introductory text summarizing much of the brain–behavior literature emphasizing the neuroanatomical underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. Because it has been written by a neuroanatomist and a neuropsychiatrist, much of the material in the book is typically not covered in the more orthodox texts written from a behavioral neurology or neuropsychological perspective. As such, this volume will be a valuable resource for students and practitioners of clinical psychology and psychiatry.