Brain and Art

Brain and Art
Author: Bruno Colombo
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2019-08-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3030235807

This book analyzes and discusses in detail art therapy, a specific tool used to sustain health in affective developments, rehabilitation, motor skills and cognitive functions. Art therapy is based on the assumption that the process of making art (music, dance, painting) sparks emotions and enhances brain activity. Art therapy is used to encourage personal growth, facilitate particular brain areas or activity patterns, and improve neural connectivity. Treating neurological diseases using artistic strategies offers us a unique option for engaging brain structural networks that enhance the brain’s ability to form new connections. Based on brain plasticity, art therapy has the potential to increase our repertoire for treating neurological diseases. Neural substrates are the basis of complex emotions relative to art experiences, and involve a widespread activation of cognitive and motor systems. Accordingly, art therapy has the capacity to modulate behavior, cognition, attention and movement. In this context, art therapy can offer effective tools for improving general well-being, quality of life and motivation in connection with neurological diseases. The book discusses art therapy as a potential group of techniques for the treatment of neurological disturbances and approaches the relationship between humanistic disciplines and neurology from a holistic perspective, reflecting the growing interest in this interconnection.

Contact Lenses in Ophthalmic Practice

Contact Lenses in Ophthalmic Practice
Author: Mark J. Mannis
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2006-05-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0387217584

Even with the advances in intraocular lens technology and the growing diversity of refractive surgery techniques, the role of contact lenses in ophthalmic practice has only increased. This is due in part to the great strides in materials, technology, expanding applications (both refractive and therapeutic) for contact lenses, and the clear recognition that contact lenses will always be an important tool for the ophthalmologist. With the fitting of contact lenses as a medical art, requiring a thorough understanding of anatomy, physiology and optics of the eye, this practice is formulaic only in part. The rest of contact lens practice requires sound medical judgment and decision- making that comes only with "hands-on" experience. The authors address this need by starting with a didactic approach that incorporates frequently-asked questions and straightforward answers so that the ophthalmology resident, intermediate contact lens practitioner, and optometrist will find this to be an indispensable resource.

Human Security

Human Security
Author: W.E. Blatz
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1966-12-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1442633816

During his lifetime, W.E. Blatz was so much occupied with the development of the University of Toronto’s Institute of Child Study that he was able to devote little time to writing. This is his first book to appear in twenty-one years, and his first complete exposition of his famous Theory of Security. The Theory of Security is radically different from the theories promulgated by Freudian psychologists. Whereas Freudian personality theory is based on the notion of “unconscious,” an entity that is only indirectly observable, the Theory of Security derives from the observation of the conscious state in all its manifestations. Dr. Blatz thus makes use of both empirical observations and the results of introspection, and, as might be expected, some of his conclusions run counter to those reached in much current psychological discussion. But proof of the forcible influence of the theory and its author may be found in the impressive number of books and articles already published by Dr. Blatz’s associates at the Institute of Child Study, applying the theory to the practical problems of psychological observation and therapy. It is fitting that the man whose work has generated so much fruitful research by others in this field should at last have set down in book form the fundamental principles that guided them.

Neurobehavioral Disorders of Childhood

Neurobehavioral Disorders of Childhood
Author: Robert Melillo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2004-01-31
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780306478147

Attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, asperger's syndrome, and autism, to name but a few, may be viewed as points on a spectrum of developmental disabilities in which those points share features in common and possibly etiology as well, varying only in severity and in the primary anatomical region of dysfunctional activity. This text focuses on alterations of the normal development of the child. A working theory is presented based on what we know of the neurological and cognitive development in the context of evolution of the human species and its brain. In outlining our theory of developmental disabilities in evolutionary terms, the authors offer evidence to support the following notions: Bipedalism was the major reason for human neocortical evolution; Cognition evolved secondary and parallel to evolution of motricity; There exists an overlap of cognitive and motor symptoms; Lack of thalamo-cortical stimulation, not overstimulation, is a fundamental problem of developmental disabilities; A primary problem is dysfunctions of hemisphericity; Most conditions in this spectrum of disorders are the result of a right hemisphericity; Environment is a fundamental problem; All of these conditions are variations of the same problem; These problems are correctable; Hemisphere specific treatment is the key to success.

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Music

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Music
Author: Isabelle Peretz
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 478
Release: 2003-07-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0198525192

In recent years the discpline of 'music psychology' has grown dramatically. In this volume, the two leaders in this field Isabelle Peretz and Robert Zatorre, have brought together an impressive list of contributors to present this study of the neutral correlates of music.