Neurological Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience

Despite dramatic advances in neuroimaging techniques, patient-based analyses of brain disorders continue to offer important insights into the functioning of the normal brain. Bridging the gap between the work of neurologists studying clinical disorders and neuroscientists studying the neural mechanisms underlying normal cognition, this book reviews classical neurobehavioral syndromes from both neurological and cognitive scientific perspectives.

The contributors are all practicing neurologists who also conduct cognitive neuroscience research. Each chapter begins with a case study, describing the patient’s symptoms and the cognitive processes involved. The clinical descriptions are followed by historical background on the neurobehavioral syndromes and discussion of the methods used to understand the underlying neural mechanisms. In their attempts to reconcile conflicting data derived from different methodologies, many of the authors shed new light on the cognitive mechanisms they discuss. The syndromes include neglect, Balint’s syndrome, amnesia, semantic dementia, topographical disorientation, acquired dyslexia, acalculia, transcortical motor aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia, apraxia, and lateral prefrontal syndrome.