The first edition of the Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition, edited by Roberto Cabeza and Alan Kingstone, was a welcome addition to the cognitive neuroscience field when it was published in 2001. There were chapters on the history of neuroimaging and analysis, and all the major cognitive areas that had been studied at the time, written by senior people in their respective areas. That a second edition has appeared so soon after the first is a testament to the rapid growth of the cognitive neuroscience field, which is both gratifying and somewhat daunting to those of us who vainly attempt to keep up with this burgeoning literature. The same authors as in the previous edition write some chapters, but many have been penned by different authors, equally well known in the field, which is also a sign that the field is healthy and growing.
The second edition follows the same approach and format as the earlier edition. The volume is divided into three parts: the first contains chapters on history and methodology; the second covers the major studied cognitive domains, such as attention, language, and various forms of memory; and the final part contains chapters on developmental and clinical applications of functional neuroimaging. Each chapter begins with a general overview that introduces the theories and empirical work that have influenced the topic area. This is followed by a comprehensive review of the imaging literature. Each chapter then ends with a section on currently unresolved issues. These latter sections are particularly useful for students or those who are relatively new to the field, as they serve as “reality checks” on the limitations of the methods and results to date. For example, the chapter on experimental design and analysis covers some of the common pitfalls of functional MRI studies and encourages the reader to look carefully at how the various pre-processing steps influence the data. This is good advice that the novice needs to hear, and that the expert needs to be reminded of once in a while as well. I also found the introductory chapter on the history of functional neuroimaging quite useful. Today's user of fMRI should know about the earlier ways of measuring brain blood flow and function, if for no other reason than to gain a better understanding of what is actually being measured. Another interesting discussion can be found in the chapter on attention, which concludes with the suggestion that future experiments should begin to focus more on “real world” cognitive processes and to study how people behave in complex environments. As this would entail giving up some experimental control, which many might be unwilling to do, this is a thought-provoking suggestion that should generate much discussion in classrooms where this volume is used as a textbook.
There are several improvements over the previous edition. A separate chapter on the principles of functional MRI has been added, which will serve as an introduction to the methodology. The editors made a wise choice in selecting the authors of this chapter (Song, Huettel, and McCarthy), and interested readers would be well served by following up with more detailed perusal of the excellent text on functional MRI by these authors. In particular, the section on the physiological basis of fMRI is rather brief here, so the reader interested in this important area of research will have to go elsewhere. Another advantage of this edition is that there are new chapters in the section on clinical applications. The previous edition covered cognitive aging and neuropsychologically impaired patients, whereas the new edition also has chapters on childhood development and social cognition. Both of these are welcome additions; in particular, the recent surge of interest in social cognitive neuroscience makes this chapter necessary. Finally, executive functions also get a dedicated chapter, reflecting the continued interest in these processes.
Despite my overall favorable opinion of this new edition of the Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition, I do have some criticisms. One rather serious oversight is the omission of any discussion of network approaches to image analysis. A chapter on this approach was included in the first edition, and it is not clear why this was not included again. This omission is especially surprising, given that this type of analytic approach, and the theoretical stance that lies behind it, are growing in popularity and influence. It also would have been nice to have some coverage of analytic techniques such as predictive modeling or multi-voxel pattern analysis, but perhaps these are too new to have been included, given the typical lag times in book publishing. Another limitation is that the Issues sections, which are so valuable, are uneven. As already mentioned, this section in the analysis chapter is quite extensive and thorough; however, in other chapters this is not the case. In the chapter on episodic memory, for example, the Issues section is very brief and not of much use. This is unfortunate, as the literature on episodic memory and functional neuroimaging is quite extensive and this would have been a good opportunity to discuss some of the controversies in this area.
Nevertheless, these criticisms do not detract from the ultimate usefulness of this book. I think the Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition, Second Edition, will appeal to a wide readership, and will be most helpful to those teaching courses in cognitive neuroscience as well as to researchers in this field who wish to learn about areas outside their own area of expertise. The editors have successfully combined in one volume a broad survey of how functional neuroimaging is accomplished and how neuroscientists have applied it to the study of human cognition. It will certainly be one of the books that I will recommend to new students and postdoctoral fellows, at least until the third edition comes out.
