Selected Papers on Language and the Brain

Selected Papers on Language and the Brain
Author: N. Geschwind
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 567
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401020930

Philosophers of science work not only with the methods of the sciences but with their contents as well. Substantive issues concerning the relation between mind and matter, between the material basis and the functions of cognition, have been central within the entire history of philosophy. We recall such philosophers as Aristotle, Descartes, the early Kant, Ernst Mach, and the early William James as directly inquiring of the organs and structures of thinking. Science and its philosophical self-criticism are especially and deeply united in the effort to understand the biological brain and human behavior, and so it requires no apology to include this collection of clinical studies among Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. The work of Dr. Norman Geschwind, well represented in this selection, explores the relation between structure and function, between the anatomy of the brain and the 'higher' behavior of men and women. As a clinical neurologist, Geschwind was led to these studies particularly by his in terest in those pathologies which have to do with human perception and language. His research into the anatomical substrates of specific dis orders-and strikingly the aphasias -present a fascinating and provocative examination of fundamental questions which will concern not neurologists alone but also psychologists, physicians, linguists, speech pathologists, educators, anthropologists, historians of medicine, and philosophers, among others, namely all those interested in the characteristic modes of human activity, in speech, in perception, and in the learning process generally.

Transcortical Aphasias

Transcortical Aphasias
Author: Marcelo L. Berthier
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2022-02-16
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1317715330

Transcortical aphasias is the term used for syndromes in which the ability to repeat language is relatively preserved despite marked disturbances in other linguistic domains. Although there are a number of well-known reference texts on language disturbances after acquired brain damage that uncover the classical syndromes of aphasia (e.g. conduction aphasia) in a comprehensive fashion, this monograph is unique in its coverage of the different clinical, linguistic, and neuroanatomical aspects of transcortical aphasias. This book offers a comprehensive, contemporary and scholarly account of transcortical aphasias by combining valuable information upon cognitive neuropsychology, neuroimaging and functional localization of residual repetition and other language functions among patients with transcortical aphasias. The book covers: historical aspects; assessment of language deficits from a clinical and psycholinguistic perspective; clinical phenomenology, aetiology, neural substrates, and linguistic mechanisms underlying each of the three clinically established variants of transcortical aphasias (motor, sensory, and mixed); associated phenomena such as echolalia, completion phenomenon, automatic speech, and prosody; and neuroanatomical correlates including structural and functional neuroimaging. Each chapter presents the description of original and published cases which illustrate the various clinical patterns of transcortical aphasias.

Lost Words

Lost Words
Author: L. S. Jacyna
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2009-08-16
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1400831180

In the mid-nineteenth century, physicians observed numerous cases in which individuals lost the ability to form spoken words, even as they remained sane and healthy in most other ways. By studying this condition, which came to be known as "aphasia," neurologists were able to show that functions of mind were rooted in localized areas of the brain. Here L. S. Jacyna analyzes medical writings on aphasia to illuminate modern scientific discourse on the relations between language and the brain, from the very beginnings of this discussion through World War I. Viewing these texts as literature--complete with guiding metaphors and rhetorical strategies--Jacyna reveals the power they exerted on the ways in which the human subject was constructed in medicine. Jacyna submits the medical texts to various critical readings and provides a review of the pictorial representation involved with the creation of aphasiology. He considers the scientific, experimental, and clinical aspects of this new field, together with the cultural, professional, and political dimensions of what would become the authoritative discourse about language and the brain. At the core of the study is an inquiry into the processes whereby men and women suffering from language loss were transformed into the "aphasic," an entity amenable to scientific scrutiny and capable of yielding insights about the fundamental workings of the brain. But what became of the subject's human identity? Lost Words explores the links among language, humanity, and mental presence that make the aphasiological project one of continuing fascination.

Behavioral Assessment and Rehabilitation of the Traumatically Brain-Damaged

Behavioral Assessment and Rehabilitation of the Traumatically Brain-Damaged
Author: Barry A. Edelstein
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2013-11-22
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1475793928

This book developed out of the editors' longstanding interest in the retraining of traumatically brain-damaged adults and the management of their behavior by family members. A search for relevant experimental evidence to support the clinical use of behavioral principles for retrain ing, which began in 1977, turned up little empirical support. Moreover, the literature on retraining was dispersed among a variety of journals published in various countries. Nowhere was there a compendium of literature that addressed issues of assessment and retraining. There was no place to turn if one wanted to move from a standard neuropsy chological evaluation to the retraining of skill deficits revealed in the evaluation. We have attempted to edit a book that represents what we had hoped to find in the literature and could be used by professionals in clinical psychology, clinical neuropsychology, rehabilitation medicine, physical therapy, speech therapy, and other disciplines that address rehabilitation of brain-damaged adults-a book that addresses assess ment and rehabilitation issues and is sufficiently detailed to offer the reader a starting point in developing behavioral assessment and re habilitation programs. The book contains conceptual foundations, re views of research, descriptions of successful rehabilitation programs, and relatively detailed approaches to the retraining of specific skills. A shift from an assessment-based practice to one encompassing both prescriptive assessment and treatment has become a recognized transition in the neuropsychological literature and was best articulated in an article by Gerald Goldstein in March of 1979.

Evidence-Based Practice in Speech Pathology

Evidence-Based Practice in Speech Pathology
Author: Sheena Reilly
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2003-12-19
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1861563205

This text introduces therapists and speech pathologists to the principles of evidence-based practice and guides readers to the best available evidence regarding the management of a range of disorders within speech pathology. It should be applicable to speech pathologists at any stage of their clinical career, as well as being of use to speech pathology students and other health care professionals. The book is organized into three sections. In the first, the subject of evidence-based practice is introduced. Its application to the profession of speech pathology is addressed and types and levels of evidence are described. The second part focuses on a number of sub-specialist areas of speech pathology practice (dysphagia; paediatric motor speech disorders; aphasiology; voice; paediatric language and AAC). In the third section of the book the authors demonstrate how to apply the principles of evidence-based practice to clinical practice, to research and to education.