Cognitive Neurology: A Clinical Textbook

Most of the contributors to this book combine an active clinical practice with a leading role in their respective research area, and have provided, in concise summaries, the theoretical advances which they consider as potentially relevant for the clinical evaluation and treatment of patients. This general approach has led to a format that is different from the many textbooks of neuropsychology that have appeared in the last few years. The organization of the material follows the main issues of diagnostic evaluation, clinical presentation, and management. As a consequence, the book deals not only with the classical neuropsychological syndromes associated with stroke and degenerative dementias, but also with other common clinical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, head injury, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders, which are often neglected in neuropsychology textbooks.

Cognitive Neurology will be essential for neurologists in training, who want to understand how the observations they make everyday in the clinic relate to the expanding knowledge about the organization of cognition and emotion in the human brain. It will also be of interest to psychologists, speech and language clinicians, and rehabilitation specialists.

The study of patients affected by disorders of the central nervous system is one of the key research methods for investigating the organization of cognitive functions in the brain. However, many clinicians remain unaware of the significant advances that have taken place in the field of cognitive neuroscience in the last decades. This book provides an introduction to the cognitive and behavioural aspects of the clinical practice of neurology.

Most of the contributors to this book combine an active clinical practice with a leading role in their respective research area, and have provided, in concise summaries, the theoretical advances which they consider as potentially relevant for the clinical evaluation and treatment of patients. This general approach has led to a format that is different from the many textbooks of neuropsychology that have appeared in the last few years. The organization of the material follows the main issues of diagnostic evaluation, clinical presentation, and management. As a consequence, the book deals not only with the classical neuropsychological syndromes associated with stroke and degenerative dementias, but also with other common clinical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, head injury, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders, which are often neglected in neuropsychology textbooks.

Cognitive Neurology will be essential for neurologists in training, who want to understand how the observations they make everyday in the clinic relate to the expanding knowledge about the organization of cognition and emotion in the human brain. It will also be of interest to psychologists, speech and language clinicians, and rehabilitation specialists.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Michael Joel Schrift, D.O., M.A.(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description:This is a first-rate, informative new book on clinical cognitive neuroscience. The editors present a brain-based understanding of cognition and behavior in common disease states seen by neurologists, psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists. Written and edited by a cohort of internationally recognized clinician-scientists, this book is an outstanding contribution to the field.
Purpose:The purpose is to inform clinicians of the significant advances that have taken place in cognitive neuroscience, with an introduction to the cognitive and behavioral aspects of neurologic (and psychiatric) practice. The editors and authors have produced a highly informative book.
Audience:The intended audience includes neurologists, psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists. Trainees in neurology, psychiatry, behavioral neurology, and neuropsychiatry would benefit from this book.
Features:The first part of the book focuses on assessment methods with chapters on the clinical examination, neuropsychological assessment, and functional brain imaging. Focal brain syndromes are reviewed in part 2 with chapters covering aphasia, apraxia, spatial disorders, amnestic disorders, post-stroke neurobehavioral syndromes, and intracranial mass-related cognitive and behavioral disorders. The dementing disorders are covered in part 3, with chapters on differential diagnosis, Alzheimer disease, frontal temporal lobe dementia, vascular cognitive impairment, Lewy body disease, and the genetics of dementia. Part 4 reviews the cognitive disorders in neurological/psychiatric disorders with chapters on traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, schizophrenia, depression, and conversion disorder. Each chapter concludes with relevant and timely citations of the scientific literature.
Assessment:This is a brilliant new book on cognitive and behavioral neurology. A must read for anyone interested in neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology.

Stefano F. Cappa received his M.D. at the University of Milano, where he completed his neurology training. He has held assistant professor and associate professor positions in neurology and neurological rehabilitation at the University of Brescia. He has been professor of neuropsychology at the Vita Salute S. Raffaele University in Milano, Italy since 1999 and, since Nov 2000, Dean of Psychology. He is also Director of the Neurology Department of S. Raffaele Turro Hospital, Milano, Italy. His main research interests are: the investigations in linguistic aspects of aphasia, with a special emphasis on the neurological correlates of specific aspects of language impairment; Alzheimer's disease and dementia: diagnosis, unusual neuropsychological features, cognitive studies of memory disorders in dementia; the application of functional imaging methods (positron emission tomography, functional magnetic resonance) to the study of cognitive function (in particular, language and semantic memory).
Jubin Abutalebi is a cognitive neurologist and a contracted professor at the Psychology Faculty of the University Vita Salute in Milan. His research focus on linguistic aspects of aphasia in mono- and bi-linguals, with a special emphasis on the neurological correlates of language impairment as studied with functional neuroimaging. Dr Abutalebi is internationally known for his landmark studies on the neural correlates of languages in bilinguals.
Jean-François Démonet was trained as an MD and neurologist at Toulouse University. He completed his training in neuropsychology at Montreal University and the MRC Cyclotron Unit (London) under R. Frackowiak. He is currently "Directeur de Recherche" heading a research team at the INSERM Unit U825, Purpan University Hospital in Toulouse. The main research topics are the neural correlates of various language-related functions such as categorical processes in perception and production of language, and memory/language interactions. These topics are addressed in studies of brain functions in non-brain-damaged subjects as well as in patients suffering from various language dysfunctions (aphasia, dyslexia), perception dysfunction (e.g. visual agnosia), and neuro-degenerative diseases. In each of these contexts, the approach combines behavioural studies based on cognitive neuropsychology principles, and neuroimaging studies using the various brain imaging techniques that are available on site. Paul Fletcher trained in medicine and then psychiatry in London. He subsequently worked at the Hammersmith Hospital and later at the Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, London, carrying out a set of studies on the contributions of frontal lobes to memory in health and mental illness. After an attachment at the Institute for Brain Research, Dusseldorf, he took up a position in the Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University on a Wellcome Trust-funded senior Fellowship. His research explores the neurobiology of human learning and memory in health and disease. In particular, he is interested in how abnormal brain activity during learning may underlie some of the distressing symptoms associated with psychiatric illnesses. Peter Garrard is a senior lecturer and honorary consultant neurologist in the department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Royal Free Hospital, London