Abstract
This volume is unique in providing comprehensive encyclopedic coverage of topics in neuropsychology as well as allied areas such as neurology, psychiatry, and cognitive psychology. The project was conceived by Graham Beaumont and Justine Sergent; with the untimely death of Dr Sergent, Pamela Kenealy and Marcus Rogers were enlisted to complete the editing task, with overall guidance provided by an advisory board with considerable depth of experience. The entries in the dictionary comprise contributions from an all-star cast of clinicians and researchers in neuropsychology and related fields, with over 120 international contributors acknowledged.
Entries are headed by alphabetically organised keywords, with subheadings used to cross-reference related subjects. The entries consist of major and minor articles: major articles are encyclopedic in scope and tend to be written by a leading exponent of the topic, and are essentially short essays including tables, figures, and so-called ‘standard brain diagrams’ as appropriate; these articles are followed by a short reading list. Minor articles tend to be definitional, and are usually provided by the editors.
The index is comprehensive and helpful in providing subindexed qualification of terms, rather than an anonymous list of page numbers. The editors stated that they attempted to provide balanced coverage of both core enduring concepts and more contemporary issues, reflecting the accelerating growth of neuropsychology as a discipline. In the main, the editors have achieved their aim, providing sufficiently thorough yet still concise coverage of clinical syndromes (e.g. agnosia, amnesia, aphasia, dementia, dyslexia, neglect) and their brain correlates, neuroanatomical entities (e.g. basal ganglia, frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, cerebellum, brainstem) and their neuropsychological correlates, various cognitive constructs and psychological phenomena (e.g. attention, consciousness, lateralisation, handedness), and topics such as assessment methodology, rehabilitation, and neuroimaging techniques; there is even an entry for ‘neuropsychology’!While there can be little doubt that the dictionary's breadth of coverage easily justifies the necessary sacrifice of two inches of bookshelf space, some readers may puzzle at the space allocated for some topics (e.g. five pages on reflexes, another five on seasonal affective disorder, eight on sleep, yet only one on schizophrenia), and the occasional omission of a link with neuropsychology itself (e.g. no mention of memory disorder in the coverage of epilepsy). Such quibbles, however, should not detract from the overall impression of appropriate coverage of topics.
The intended readership includes practising clinical neuropsychologists, for whom the book should provide a resource for reviewing current information and views about heartland topics, and access to ‘low prevalence’ topics in more specialised areas of neuropsychology (including the experimental background relevant to areas of clinical practise). For this readership, the volume will supplement more comprehensive treatments of the subject matter by authors such as Lezak, Lishman, and Walsh. There will also be an obvious market in the shape of neuropsychology trainees, and the volume stands as a much-needed roadmap for these developing experts. Another audience is likely to comprise a variety of other healthcare professionals who deal with brain-impaired clients, and who have interactions with neuropsychologists: clinical psychologists, neurologists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists should find the dictionary a valuable resource to have close at hand, if not on their own bookshelf. As members of this audience, psychiatrists are likely to find the dictionary a particularly valuable resource as interactions with neuropsychologists become more common in psychiatric services, due to the emerging recognition of neurocognitive phenotypes of psychiatric disorder, and their relationship with functional outcome.