Beyond Nature-Nurture: Essays in Honor of Elizabeth Bates. Michael Tomasello and Dan Isaac Slobin (Eds.). 2005. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 339 pp., $69.95 (HB).
This highly personal and worthwhile collection of chapters by a distinguished international faculty of colleagues and collaborators forms a fine tribute to Elizabeth Ann Bates, developmental psychologist, psycholinguist, and cognitive scientist, whose writings and teaching have influenced many who study language in children or adults. After the editors' finely worded Introduction that summarizes the essence of Dr. Bates' interests and explorations, and her Emergentist theory, a few pages of Elizabeth Bates's Aphorisms for the Study of Language, Cognition, Development, Biology, and Evolution, and the Vita of Elizabeth Bates, chapters are contributed for Part I. Gestures and Word Learning, Part II. The Competition Model and Connectionism, Part III. Grammar, Part IV. Biology and Language, and Part V. Language Processing.
Perspectives on Imitation: From Neuroscience to Social Science. Volume 1. Mechanisms of Imitation and Imitation in Animals. Susan Hurley and Nick Chater (Eds.). 2005. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 437 pp., $35.00 (PB).
Perspectives on Imitation: From Neuroscience to Social Science. Volume 1I. Imitation, Human Development, and Culture. Susan Hurley and Nick Chater (Eds.). 2005. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 547 pp., $40.00 (PB).
The first paragraph of the Introduction to both Volumes 1 and 2 includes the statement that “… imitation is a rare ability that is fundamentally linked to characteristically human forms of intelligence, in particular to language, culture, and the ability to understand other minds.” These two volumes include fascinating chapters by researchers from diverse fields of study on current thinking about the relevance and essential nature of imitation as a fundamental trait. Volume I, Part I, focuses on mechanisms of imitation, including discussion of the mirror neuron system, the neural underpinnings of imitation, and its relations with language and empathy, identity, neurophysiological aspects gleaned from neuroimaging experiments, application of ideomotor theory, along with discussions of meme theory and a shared circuits hypothesis for a functional architecture for control, imitation, and simulation. In Part II, imitation in animals is the focus, with comparisons to humans. Volume II, Part I, addresses imitation and human development, including theory of mind. It includes a chapter supportive of the Piagetian theory and timetable, and discussions on human social learning, selective tool use by children, imitation as entrainment, among other stimulating perspectives. Part II, provides discussions on imitation related to social and cultural roles and functions, deceptive mimicry, effects of media violence, moral development, mimesis, and rationality.
Clinical Neuropsychology: A Pocket Handbook for Assessment. Peter Snyder, Paul D. Nussbaum, Diana L. Robins (Eds.). 2006. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 769 pp., $49.95 (PB).
This updated small paperback revises the well-received 1998 edition. There are new emphases, such as on neuroimaging, neurochemical bases for various disorders, and pharmacologic treatment approaches. New chapters include Neuroimaging and Clinical Neuropsychological Practice, Schizophrenia, Neuropsychology of Adult Neuro-Oncology, Late-Life Depression, and Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The 1998 edition's Part II, Pediatric Neuropsychology, and Part III, Geriatric Psychology, are now merged as Part II. Neuropsychology and the Human Life Span. Previous chapters on estimating premorbid intelligence, learning disorders, and HIV infection are omitted.
The A-Z of Neurological Practice: A Guide to Clinical Neurology. By Roger A. Barker, Neil Scolding, Dominic Rowe, and Andrew J. Larner. 2005. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 936 pp., $75.00 (PB).
The authors qualify up-front their inclusions from abducens nerve palsy to zygomycosis in a handy reference book aimed at neurologists-in-training and allied professionals. The general template for neurological conditions includes clinical features, investigational techniques, differential diagnosis, pathogenesis, treatment, selected references, and a minimal number of useful cross-references within the text.
