Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience [Hardcover]

Simon Baron-Cohen (Editor), Helen Tager-Flusberg (Editor), Donald Cohen (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198524463 | ISBN-13: 978-0198524465 | Publication Date: March 16, 2000 | Edition: 2

The material for the original edition of this book was prepared in the late 1980s. During that time, there has been growth in the fields of theory of mind, autism, and cognitive neuroscience. This new edition includes a whole section on the cognitive neuroscience of "mind-reading", bringing together varied research methods such as functional neuro-imaging, single cell recording, and neuropsychology. In addition, there is expanded coverage of primate studies and the evolution of a theory of mind, and new information relating theory of mind in clinical populations other than autism, such as schizophrenia. The original section on normal development has been updated, as has the debate over the relationship between theory of mind deficits and autism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an important work in a rapidly changing field. The editors and contributors attempt to explain the always-elusive concept of self-awareness. The also attempt to explain that perhaps uniquely human quality of realizing that other, also, are self-aware, and how this ability is crucial in normal human development. Unlike may other books on this subject, the editors approach the concept from several different perspectives and succeed in offering an explanation using all these modalities. The book's usefulness is perhaps limited to researchers and child/development psychologists, but anyone interested in the subject will find it exciting reading."--Doody's

"Updated to integrate changes in theory, method, and data since the 1933 first edition, which was subtitled Perspectives from Autism, 21 studies cover the theory of mind from perspectives of normal development and autism, neurobiological aspects, clinical aspects, and anthropological and evolutionary issues. The range of topics is reflected in the disciplines from which the contributors hail. Among the specific concerns are developmental relationships between language and the theory of mind, the role of the frontal lobes and the amygdala, early diagnosis of autism, teaching the theory of mind to people with autism, whether chimpanzees use their gestures to instruct each other, and paleo-anthropological perspectives."--SciTech Book News

"Understanding Other Minds is a well thought-out text, with all the chapter authors achieving a very high standard of presentation. The book provides an excellent introduction for readers new to the area while also providing an important research synthesis for the more expert. It contains a wealth of material of obvious relevance and interest to psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and developmental psychologists, but will also be of interest to those working in other branches of psychology."--Psychological Medicine

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Simon Baron-Cohen is at University of Cambridge. Helen Tager-Flusberg is at University of Massachusetts, Boston. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (March 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198524463
• ISBN-13: 978-0198524465
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,391,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Work, December 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (Paperback)

This is perhaps the definitive source on the nature of autism. I particularly enjoyed the bit on cognitive neuroscience.