Brain Study

Neuropsychology rapidly emerged as a separate branch of the neurosciences
in the 1970’s and 1980’s. During that time, there was an explosion of
training programs for neuropsychologists and scientific research concerning
the relationships between the brain and behavior. While the field has
only recently evolved, however, the discipline’s underpinnings can be traced
back thousands of years. Egyptian writings dating to 2500 b.c.e. describe
trauma to the brain and the behavior of the patient sustaining this damage.
A second early milestone occurred with the anatomical studies and illustrations
of the 1800’s. In 1861, Paul Broca demonstrated that a lesion of the
left frontal lobe of the brain caused a disruption of the production of
speech. Soon after this revelation, researchers became quite consumed with
localizing all cognitive functions to some discrete part of the brain.

Those who believed that each function could be neatly contained in a
small region of the brain came to be known as localizationists. Those who
believed that all areas of the brain were equally involved in all cognitive abilities
were labeled equipotentialists. A third group known as interactionists
suggests that more basic cognitive functions are relatively localized but interact
to allow for more complex cognitive processes. This perspective was
derived from the late nineteenth century research of Hughlings Jackson in
his clinical work as a neurologist. In many ways, Jackson’s ideas were quite
advanced for his time and the available research methodology.
The twentieth century witnessed a steady accumulation of knowledge
concerning the relationships between the brain and behavior. These developments
occurred primarily because of the need to assist soldiers who had
sustained wartime brain injuries. In the process of treating these individuals,
much was learned about the role of various brain regions in carrying out various
behaviors. The systematic study of brain-injured persons by Aleksandr
Luria contributed tremendously to the process of assessing and localizing
brain dysfunction.
This new awareness provided psychology with a better understanding of
how the physical brain can produce very atypical behaviors. Before this
time, it was believed that behavioral disturbance was universally caused by
disruption of the nonphysical “mind.” The new knowledge has given clinical
psychologists much more sophisticated answers about how best to treat patients
with behavioral difficulties. It has also served to remove some of the
stigma attached to mental illness or dysfunction. The lay public seems more
willing to tolerate atypical behavior from an individual with physical damage
to the brain than from a patient labeled as being mentally ill.
The future of neuropsychology appears to be full of promise. It is expected
that investigators will continue to conduct research that sheds light
on the workings of the healthy brain as well as assisting those with neurological
damage. Furthermore, it appears that neuropsychology will continue to
advance the larger field of psychology by providing physiological explanations
for behaviors and disorders that now have only hypothetical ones.

Sources for Further Study
Beaumont, J. Graham. Introduction to Neuropsychology. New York: Guilford
Press, 1983. An accessible reference for the student who is new to the
field. Particularly helpful in describing the methods used to investigate
experimental neuropsychological phenomena.
Ellis, Andrew W., and Andrew W. Young. Human Cognitive Neuropsychology.
Rev. ed. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1996. Presents ideas and research
from the mid-1980’s on the integrated workings of the brain. Particularly
helpful in establishing a theoretical framework that assists the
student in integrating the often divergent research findings in a more holistic
manner.
Kolb, Bryan, and Ian Q. Whishaw. Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology.
4th ed. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1996. A comprehensive textbook that
fully covers the fields of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.
Lengthy but clear and well written. Best suited to the student who has
read an introductory work on the topic.
Ledoux, Joseph. Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are. New York:
Viking Press, 2002. Written for a lay audience, explains the neuroscience
of personality and the brain. Focuses on the working of the synapses in
the brain’s communication system.
Luria, Aleksandr Romanovich. The Working Brain: An Introduction to Neuropsychology.
New York: Basic Books, 1973. Considered by many to be the
seminal work in the field. Presents many of Luria’s most dramatic insights
about normal and damaged brains. Although the title suggests this is an
introduction, the ideas presented in this source are often highly complex.
Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. New York: Harper-
Perennial Library, 1990. Sacks is a gifted writer as well as successful neurologist,
and he displays the best of both these talents in this work. Reads
more like a novel than a textbook. Based on actual neurological cases
seen by Sacks.
Jeffery B. Allen
See also: Alzheimer’s Disease; Brain Structure; Cognitive Psychology; Dementia;
Nervous System; Parkinson’s Disease. 577