Leading Edge Cognitive Disorders Research

This new book presents important recent research on cognitive disorders which are disturbances in the mental process related to thinking, reasoning, and judgement. They include delirium, dementia, and other cognitive disorders. Cognition includes the domains of attention, memory, language, gnosis, visuospatial function, praxis, and executive function, and is traditionally distinguished from the emotions or 'feelings'. Cognitive disorders may disturb one domain specifically, as in a selective impairment of memory (amnesia) or language (aphasia), or, more often, a combination of deficits, as in mental retardation and dementia.

This new book focuses on new research on cognitive science which is most simply defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence. It is an interdisciplinary study drawing from relevant fields including psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, computer science, biology, and physics. There are several approaches to the study of cognitive science. These approaches may be classified broadly as symbolic, connectionist, and dynamic systems. Symbolic -- holds that cognition can be explained using operations on symbols, by means of explicit computational theories and models of mental (but not brain) processes analogous to the workings of a digital computer. Connectionist (subsymbolic) -- holds that cognition can only be modelled and explained by using artificial neural networks on the level of physical brain properties. Hybrid systems -- holds that cognition is best modelled using both connectionist and symbolic models, and possibly other computational techniques.

Cognitive disorders are defined as those in which a limitation of cognitive functioning is the main feature. They include: amnestic disorders, Huntington's disease, and mental retardation, dementia, delirium, aphasia, and cognitive disorders not otherwise specified. This book brings together leading researchers from throughout the world.

Cognitive disorders are defined as those in which a limitation of cognitive functioning is the main feature. They include: amnestic disorders, Huntington's disease, and mental retardation, dementia, delirium, aphasia, and cognitive disorders not otherwise specified. This book brings presents leading researchers from throughout the world.

Cognitive Enhancement in CNS Disorders and Beyond compiles a series of educational and thought-provoking chapters from the world's leading cognitive and clinical scientists to describe the latest research on cognitive impairments in a host of pathological conditions that affect CNS functioning, what treatments are available for these impairments, and how new treatments are being tested. This volume will benefit any investigators in cognitive science and clinical research, but is also accessible to non-experts. It advances the field toward the availability of cognitive enhancing drugs and devices that will benefit those who need them most and others who may feel that these techniques can help them to thrive. There has never been a time that we knew more about cognition and never a time when cognition was more important to the functioning of human beings than right now. Psychological science and cognitive neuroscience have become the most popular endeavor of students world wide, is the focus of attention of our greatest scientific accomplishments and the emphasis of many publications in the mainstream media. Since humans depend on cognitive abilities for survival, quality of life, and productivity, improving it has never been more important. Those with impairments in key aspects of cognition suffer dearly, as they are unable to obtain and retain information, unable to make sound decisions based upon the information at hand, and unable to plan future activities. The availability of pharmacological and behavioral interventions that can improve cognitive abilities and provide impaired individuals with the social, occupational and functional quality of life that the rest of us enjoy has potential far-reaching implications. Such interventions can also benefit those who want to boost current cognitive abilities to higher levels, perhaps as a means to hone skills in providing products for others or to gain an edge on competition. There has never been a book devoted solely to describing the latest cognitive science and neuroscience on the methods for enhancing cognition in healthy and unhealthy humans. Cognitive Enhancement in CNS Disorders and Beyond accomplishes exactly that in a straightforward and accessible manner.

Research on cognitive disorders is challenging due to the complexity of functions and numerous variables involved. The main purpose of this book is to effectively address the methodological issues and controversies in cognitive disorders research. First, it reviews the concept of human cognition as a complex activity involving interconnected mental and cerebral processes (its systemic structure), which represent the natural and social-cultural world by means of signs (its mediated, semiotic nature) and result from the internalization (or appropriation by the individual) of external actions and relations with things and persons (its cultural-historical origin). Subsequently, methodological issues are examined, including the use of the systemic and network approach in neuropsychological research, the concepts of single and double dissociation, single-case versus group studies, problems of brain-behavioral correlations using the lesion method and functional neuroimaging, the influence of task-relevant variables (confounders) related to the patient (e.g., age, education), to the lesion (size, etiology), and to the tests and testing conditions (ecological validity, examiner ́s experience). Finally, readers are given the fundamentals of statistics applied to biomedical and psychological research, with illustrative examples of how to calculate Z score, effect size, χ2 test, t test, Pearson ́s correlation coefficient, and simple linear regression. Methodological problems in current cognitive research on early multiple sclerosis, medial temporal lobe epilepsy, mild cognitive impairment and dementia are examined in detail.

Cognitive disorders are disturbances in the mental process related to thinking, reasoning, and judgement. They include delirium, dementia, and other cognitive disorders. Cognition includes the domains of attention, memory, language, gnosis, visuo-spatial function, praxis, and executive function, and is traditionally distinguished from the emotions or 'feelings'. Cognitive disorders may disturb one domain specifically, as in a selective impairment of memory (amnesia) or language (aphasia), or, more often, a combination of deficits, as in mental retardation and dementia.

"In this book, some of the leading clinicians and cognitive neuroscientists consider the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation. They situate the issues within an overall context that considers the different types and levels of diagnosis and assessment, the adequacy of underlying cognitive theory for rehabilitation, and more importantly, the clinical effectiveness of current treatments to improve functional recovery. By employing an evidence-based approach that critically evaluates the published literature, the book provides for a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the cognitive approach and hopefully a more realistic expectation of its outcome for patients with neurological deficits." "The book will serve as a valuable source for a wide spectrum of professionals who deal with the neuropsychological and neurological effects of brain damage."--BOOK JACKET.