The Parallel Brain: The Cognitive Neuroscience of the Corpus Callosum (Issues in Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology) [Hardcover]

Eran Zaidel (Editor), Marco Iacoboni (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2002 | Series: Issues in Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology

Hemispheric specialization is involved in every aspect of sensory, cognitive, and motor systems integration. Study of the corpus callosum, the bands of tissue uniting the brain's two hemispheres, is central to understanding neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and behavior. It also brings the tools of hemispheric specialization to a fundamental problem of cognitive neuroscience: modularity and intermodular communication.This book summarizes current research on the human corpus callosum. It also provides a comprehensive introduction to cognitive neuroscience. Rather than viewing the field through the various systems of the mind/brain such as perception, action, emotion, memory, language, and problem solving, it takes a case studies approach. Focusing on the central problem of simple reaction time, it examines the most basic possible sequence of perception-decision-action. The task is to press a button with one hand as soon as a patch of light is detected in the peripheral visual field. When the patch appears in the visual field opposite the responding hand, there must be interhemispheric transfer prior to response. But transfer of what--a visual input code? A cognitive decision code? A motor response code? Combining animal models, normal human studies, and clinical evidence, the authors apply anatomical, physiological, and behavioral perspectives to this question. The emerging view is that the corpus callosum consists of many parallel interhemispheric channels for communication and control, and that every transfer channel is context-dependent and modulated by attention.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"After the great excitement that followed the work of Roger Sperry on split-brain patients, corpus callosum research progressively faded away as a hot topic in cognitive neuroscience. Zaidel and Iacoboni's book will give a great boost in reinstating the problem of hemispheric specialization as a central one in cognitive neuroscience. It points out a variety of interesting problems that the corpus callosum approach allows one to address, and summarizes many of the most important contributions in this field. The commentaries following the main articles are especially valuable. They give the reader a sense of how lively and interesting are the issues covered in the book, and one hopes that they will be the catalyst for additional research in the field."--Giacomo Rizzolatti, Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Parma

About the Author

Eran Zaidel is Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience and of Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a member of UCLA's Brain Research Institute.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 567 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book; 1 edition (August 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262240440
• ISBN-13: 978-0262240444
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,292,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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