Developmental Psychobiology, Vol. 23

The multidisciplinary field of developmental psychobiology has uncovered new findings in behavioral progressions that have led to exciting avenues for therapeutic intervention. Practical and insightful, Developmental Psychobiology looks at how behavioral and neural systems develop and how adaptive and atypical patterns influence learning and experience.Biological and child psychiatry have moved into an explosive era of developments in imaging and genetic methods. Using these tools to shed light on the relationship between internal processes and outward manifestations of behavior, the field of developmental psychobiology studies the dynamic nature of cells and structures to expose what shapes behavior.

The book's introduction provides a foundation of essential themes and questions pursued by the field, which are addressed with a specialized focus in subsequent chapters. This fascinating volume offers new information in the developmental psychobiology of early attachment, reading disability, Tourette's syndrome, schizophrenia and neurodevelopment, and the developmental neurobiology of face processing.

With chapters that elucidate the newest research in the field, Developmental Psychobiology provides clinicians an abundance of insight that can provide practical help to patients and a richer understanding of the underpinnings of cognitive and emotional disorders.

American Psychiatric Publishing

The multidisciplinary field of developmental psychobiology has uncovered new findings in behavioral progressions that have led to exciting avenues for therapeutic intervention. Developmental Psychobiology examines typical and atypical behavioral and neural development, reflecting a broad sampling of this multidisciplinary field in its five densely informative chapters. Here, ten contributors discuss early attachment, face processing, reading disability, Tourette's syndrome, and schizophrenia as a disorder of neurodevelopment—emphasizing three fundamental topics that are especially relevant to biological and child psychiatry:

• Learning and development and the methods for studying them—Understanding normal progressions as a dynamic behavioral and neural process will have a significant impact in determining the biological substrates of clinical disorders and how we can target effective treatments and interventions for behaviors such as the waxing and waning of symptoms in Tourette's syndrome and OCD, eye contact and gaze in autism, word reading in dyslexia, and working memory in schizophrenia.
• The establishment of typical and atypical developmental progressions in systems—Both plasticity and stability are critical in the normal development of behavioral and neural systems. For example, certain behaviors are appropriate at one age but inappropriate at other ages, whereas some clinical disorders may not diminish or change with age and may be viewed instead as developmental delays or deficiencies.
• The impact of methodological advances on imaging and genetics in understanding typical and atypical behavioral and neural development—How have developments in noninvasive tools for looking into the developing, behaving human brain—imaging, computational modeling and genetic techniques—helped us to inform or constrain our understanding of typical and atypical development? Until now, biological psychiatry has been based on psychopharmacological work, but now, with imaging and genetic techniques, we can further characterize the biological mechanisms underlying a disorder.

With chapters that elucidate the newest research in the field, Developmental Psychobiology provides clinicians an abundance of insight that can provide practical help to patients and a richer understanding of the underpinnings of cognitive and emotional disorders.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Michael Joel Schrift, D.O., M.A.(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description:This is an excellent new book covering important current concepts on the neurobiological aspects of various developmental processes and disorders. Written and edited by an outstanding group of internationally recognized researchers in the field, this book is an important contribution to the field.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide practitioners with the changing conceptualization of developmental neuroscience with a "...more unified understanding involved in cognitive and emotional disorders with the use of imaging and genetic methods." The book's central thesis is to emphasize the importance of examining the developmental progressions and changes in typical and atypical behavioral and neural systems. The editors and authors have produced an extremely interesting and up-to-date account of the current research questions that are being pursued in this field.
Audience:The primary audience, although not specifically stated, includes researchers in neurodevelopmental disorders, clinicians in child psychiatry, developmental psychology, adult psychiatry (these individuals grow up), child neurology, and any mental health practitioners who want to become aware of the major research ideas in this fascinating field.
Features:The introduction is a summary of the book providing an overview perspective of the current research ideas in developmental neuropsychiatry. Chapter 1 is a very interesting review of the current ideas regarding early attachment. Chapter 2 focuses on the development of an essential cognitive process: face perception. Chapter 3 summarizes the literature on the neurobiology of reading disability and intervention for this common problem. Chapter 4 covers in depth the neurobiology of Tourette's syndrome and chapter 5 details the neurodevelopmental aspects of schizophrenia. Each chapter ends with useful and relevant citations of the literature.
Assessment:This is an excellent presentation of the recent research literature in this very interesting field. Anyone interested in the development of cognitive processes should read this book.

B.J. Casey, Ph.D., is Director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, New York.