Main description:

Over the past two decades researchers and clinicians in the neurosciences have witnessed a literal information explosion in the area of brain imaging and neuropsychological functioning. Until recently we could not view the nervous system except through the use of invasive procedures. Today, a variety of imaging techniques are available, but this technology has advanced so rapidly that it has been difficult for new information to be consolidated into a single source. The goal of this volume is to present information on technological advances along with current standards and techniques in the area of brain imaging and neuropsychological functioning. The quality of brain imaging techniques has improved dramatically. In 1975 one had to be content with a brain image that only offered a gross distinction between ventricular cavities, brain, and bone tissue. Current imaging techniques offer considerable precision and approximate gross neuroanatomy to such an extent that differentiation between brain nuclei, pathways, and white gray matter is possible. These technological advances have progressed so rapidly that basic and clinical research have lagged behind. It is not uncommon, particularly in longitudinal research, for the technical meth odology of a study to become obsolete while that study is still in progress. This has hampered certain aspects of systematic research and has also produced the need for a textbook that could address contemporary issues in brain imaging and neuropsychology.

Contents:

1. Neuropsychological Function and Brain Imaging: Introduction and Overview.- 2. Neuroanatomy and Neuropathology: Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlates.- 3. Techniques of Quantitative Measurement of Morphological Structures of the Central Nervous System.- 4. Positron Emission Tomography and Neuropsychological Function.- 5. Computed Tomographic Scanning and New Perspectives in Aphasia.- 6. Brain Imaging and Neuropsychological Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury.- 7. Brain Imaging and Neuropsychological Identification of Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type.- 8. Neuropsychological and Neuroanatomic Aspects of Complex Motor Control.- 9. Structural Brain Abnormalities in the Major Psychoses.- 10. Cerebral Imaging and Emotional Correlates.- 11. Individual Differences.- 12. Structural Anomalies and Neuropsychological Function.- 13. Neuropsychological Functioning and Brain Imaging: Concluding Remarks and Synthesis.