The Human Frontal Lobes, Second Edition: Functions and Disorders (The Science and Practice of Neuropsychology) [Hardcover]

Bruce L. Miller MD (Editor), Jeffrey L. Cummings MD (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1593853297 | ISBN-13: 978-1593853297 | Publication Date: November 30, 2006 | Edition: Second Edition

Now in a revised and expanded second edition, this authoritative work synthesizes the rapidly growing knowledge base on the human frontal lobes and their central role in behavior, cognition, health, and disease. Leading contributors address neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and normal neuropsychological functioning, and describe the nature and consequences of frontal lobe dysfunction in specific neurological and psychiatric conditions. Second edition features include a new section on structural and functional neuroimaging and substantially expanded coverage of frontotemporal dementia and related disorders. Other new topics include self-consciousness, competence, and personality; new testing approaches; bipolar disorder; and adult-onset genetic disorders of the frontal lobes. The book is illustrated with nearly 100 figures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A well-written and comprehensive text from two eminent clinical neuroscientists. In keeping with a tradition of excellence, this second edition expands on the editors' highly successful first edition. A historical and conceptual overview has been added, as well as a new section on imaging that includes contributions from foremost experts. Advances in the understanding of frontotemporal dementia are also reflected in chapters emphasizing the importance of this previously understudied disease. This text is a 'must read' for anyone seriously interested in understanding the biology of behavior and the diseases that cause it to go awry."--Charles DeCarli, MD, Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis

 

"Few areas of the brain have attracted more research than the frontal lobes. Once considered esoteric, frontal lobe disease is now a common diagnosis in patients with neurodegenerative dementias. This updated second edition, edited by two prominent leaders in behavioral and cognitive neurology, contains a thoughtfully integrated exploration of frontal lobe neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, imaging, and neuropsychology. The contributors include some of the most productive clinicians and scientists in the field. Drs. Miller and Cummings have edited a volume that deserves to become the standard reference work on the human frontal lobes."--Marsel Mesulam, MD, Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

 

"This second edition provides the perfect framework for further integrating neurology, psychiatry, and neuropsychology in the understanding and treatment of major mental disorders. A great breadth of scientific knowledge, clinical acumen, and provocative analysis is brought to bear on enigmatic frontal lobe syndromes. Detailed and comprehensive, this is a vital reference for practitioners, investigators, and students who wish to be at the cutting edge of clinical neuroscience and multidisciplinary research."--Paul J. Eslinger, PhD, Penn State Hershey Medical Center

About the Author

Bruce L. Miller, MD, is Professor of Neurology at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), where he holds the A.W. & Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Chair. He is also the clinical director of the aging and dementia program at UCSF, where he heads the State of California Research and Clinical Center and a new National Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. For nearly two decades, Dr. Miller has been the scientific director of the John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease. He has been listed in The Best Doctors in America since 1996. Dr. Miller directs a National Institutes of Health-funded program on frontotemporal dementia (FTD) called “FTD: Genes, Images, and Emotions.” He has published more than 250 articles.
 
Jeffrey L. Cummings, MD, is Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Deane F. Johnson Center for Neurotherapeutics at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He is the Augustus S. Rose Professor of Neurology and Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Cummings is past president of the American Neuropsychiatric Society and the Behavioral Neurology Society. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Henderson Lectureship of the American Neurological Society. Dr. Cummings has lectured, pursued research, and published on the topics of neuropsychiatry, behavioral neurology, neurotherapeutics, and drug development. He has contributed to the understanding of the role of the frontal-subcortical circuits in the behavior of normal individuals and of persons with brain disorders, and is the author of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, a tool used to assess behavioral changes in patients with neurological diseases.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 666 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; Second Edition edition (November 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593853297
• ISBN-13: 978-1593853297
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #948,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Penetration of the Silent Terra Incognita, May 23, 2008

By 

Vincent Tomasino (Owings, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Human Frontal Lobes, Second Edition: Functions and Disorders (The Science and Practice of Neuropsychology) (Hardcover)

This very satisfying book "The Human Frontal Lobes, Second Edition: Functions and Disorders (Science and Practice of Neuropsychology Series)" edited by Bruce L. Miller and Jeffrey L. Cummings with 70 contributors, is also comprehensive and authoritative and distills the knowledge and research on the frontal lobes for the past 8 years. This study of the frontal lobes is further evidence that there is a paradigm shift occuring in psychiatry towards brain based and medical.

This second edition published in 2007, has 646 pages with 39 chapters grouped into 7 parts:

I Overview of the Frontal Lobes
11 Anatomy
III Neurochemistry
IV Functional and Structural Imaging Approaches
V Neuropsychological Functions
VI Neurological Disease
VII Psychiatric Diseases

This book penetrates to the core of the frontal lobes and would if used deepen psychiatric, neurology and graduate neuropsychology residency training.

The book is technical but starts gently with the frontal lobe structured into three divisions: the orbitofrontal which modulates social control, the cingulate which relates to goal directed behavior, and the dorsolateral that underpins neuropsychological functions. And from this it prismatically expands into the excutive functions, personality changes, language, emotion, thought, memory, and awareness. Then what can happen when there is loss of frontal lobe function such as in schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or in frontotemporal dementia just to give a few examples. There is a plethora of discussions on the architectonics, functional asymmetries, frontal-subcortical circuits, evolution, serotonin, acetylcholine, and the dopamine neurotransmitters, structural imaging, all of which interrelate to the frontal lobes.

It seems that Hippocrates presaged the essence of this book in 400 B.C.

"It ought to be generally known that the source of our pleasure, merriment, laughter, and amazement, as of our grief, pain, anxiety, and tears is none other than the brain. It is specially the organ which enables us to think, see and hear, and to distinguish the ugly and the beautiful, the bad and the good, pleasant and unpleasant. Sometimes we judge according to the perceptions of expediency. It is the brain too which is the seat of madness and delirium, of the fears and frights which assail us as, often by night but sometimes even by day, it is there where lies the cause of insomnia and sleep walking, of thoughts that will not come, forgotten duties, and eccentricities. All such things result from an unhealthy condition of the brain."

I don't think there is anything to add.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in the field, April 20, 2009

By 

M. Rodriguez "mrodriguez84" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Human Frontal Lobes, Second Edition: Functions and Disorders (The Science and Practice of Neuropsychology) (Hardcover)

The text is very comprehensive and to up to date. Although we know quite a lot about the frontal lobes, the assessment of specific disorders remains difficult, complex and sometimes frustrating. Miller and Cummings and the many contributors such as Donald Stuss, point this out. A must for researchers in the area as a reference book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No clinical tips, June 22, 2011

By 

William Lewis Read (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Human Frontal Lobes, Second Edition: Functions and Disorders (The Science and Practice of Neuropsychology) (Hardcover)

I ordered this book because I hoped for clinical tips in the management of frontal lobe symptoms. This thick book is full of all sorts of things except for clinical tips. An example from page 375 (on frontotemporal dementias): "Caregivers require comprehensive information about this disease and group support". What information? Where do I get it to give to them? But that is as good as it gets in this book as regards helping people.

I suppose I should not blame the stone because I cannot get blood from it, but given the size and comprehensiveness of this text I was hoping it might have suggestions about how to clinically manage people afflicted with frontal lobe disorders.