A theoretical introduction is given in which several theoretical viewpoints concerning the mind-brain problem are discussed. During the last decade philosophers like Searle, Dennett and the Churchlands have taken a more or less pure materialistic position in explaining mental phenomena.

Investigators in biological psychiatry have hardly ever taken a clear position in this discussion, whereas we believe it is important that the conclusions drawn from biological research are embedded in a theoretical framework related to the mind-brain problem.

In this article the thesis is defended that the theory of neural darwinism represents a major step forward and may bridge previous distinctions between biological, clinical and social psychiatry.

Due to abrupt interruption of hidden benzodiazepine-use, a 68-year-old woman developed a full-blown abstinence delirium characterized by epileptic seizures and progressive focal neurocognitive symptoms. The evolution of such rare neuro-linguistic phenomena as an echoism, palilalia and glossomania associated with a progressive visuo-perceptive syndrome and a visual hallucinosis are for the first time reported within the context of withdrawal. Notwithstanding the lack of any neuroradiological evidence for a morphological lesion in the clinically expected brain regions, the anatomo-clinical hypothesis of a focal frontal and parieto-occipital dysfunction was explicitly corroborated by repeated 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT findings.

This series of papers suggests that processes underlying anticipatory attention and motor preparation share a common control mechanism. Both functions are of utmost importance for an optimal adaptation to our environment. While the posterior part of the cortex is aimed at the analysis of incoming information, both from the outer world and our own body, the anterior part is involved in action and reaction. If we know when in the near future we will be confronted with relevant information, and how this has to be responded upon, modality specific sensoric and motoric information channels have to be open in order to guarantee an adequate response. The anterior and posterior parts of the cortex are activated from the thalamus and the information transmission is influenced via the reticular nucleus (RN) of the thalamus. The RN itself is under a double control: excitatory from the prefrontal cortex and inhibitory from the neostriatum. It is suggested that selection in anticipatory attention and motor preparation is realized in a comparable way via the RN. In Part I the relevant anatomical structures are described. In Part II the model for anticipatory attention and motor preparation is presented. In Part III the supporting neuropsychological evidence is presented, after which psychophysiological experiments will be discussed having lead to the formulation of the model.

De onlangs overleden Willem de Kooning wordt alom beschouwd als één der grootste beeidende kunstenaars van de 20e eeuw. Hij werd in 1904 in Nederland geboren en emigreerde in 1926 naar de Verenigde Staten. Daar ontwikkelde de Kooning eind jaren veertig, samen met Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline en Mark Rotko, een nieuwe stroming binnen de schilderskunst: het abstract expressionisme. Het waren vooral zijn opzienbarende, semi-abstracte schilderijen over vrouwen die destijds veel stof deden opwaaien. Op 78-jarige leeftijd werd bij hem de ziekte van Alzheimer vastgesteld. Een jaar eerder, in 1981, was de Kooning, na enkele jaren zo goed als gestopt te zijn, wederom begonnen met schilderen. Tussen 1981 en 1986 produceerde hij zo'n 250 abstracte doeken.