The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia (Essays in Cognitive Psychology) - Softcover

Frith, Christopher Donald

3.5

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9780863773341: The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia (Essays in Cognitive Psychology)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0863773346 ISBN 13: 9780863773341

Publisher: Psychology Press, 1995

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Schizophrenic patients have bizarre experiences which reflect a disorder in the contents of consciousness. For example, patients hear voices talking about them or they are convinced that alien forces are controlling their actions. Their abnormal behaviour includes incoherence and lack of will. In this book an explanation of these baffling signs and symptoms is provided using the framework of cognitive neuropsychology.
The cognitive abnormalities that underlie these signs and symptoms suggest impairment in a system which constructs and monitors representations of certain abstract (especially mental) events in consciousness. For example, schizophrenic patients can no longer construct representations of their intentions to act. Thus, if actions occur, these will be experienced as coming out of the blue and hence can seem alien. The patient who lacks awareness of his own intentions will stop acting spontaneously and hence will show a lack of will.
The psychological processes that are abnormal in schizophrenia can be related to underlying brain systems using evidence from human and animal neuropsychology. Interactions between prefrontal cortex and other parts of the brain, especially temporal cortex appear critical for constructing the contents of consciousness. It is these interactions that are likely to be impaired in schizophrenia.

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About the Author:

Christopher D. Frith is Emeritus Professor at University College London, UK, Visiting Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford, UK. In 2009 he was awarded the Fyssen Foundation Prize for his work on neuropsychology.

Review:

'This is perhaps the deepest analysis of schizophrenic thought ever advanced, and one of the most interesting applications of cognitive science to psychopathology'.
- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, USA and the author of How the Mind Works and The Stuff of Thought

'This book, first published in 1992, laid the foundations for then new field of cognitive neuropsychiatry. Its major theme was that schizophrenia is not an appropriate object for scientific study, and that what should be studied instead are individual signs and symptoms such as hallucination or delusion. The major funding body for mental health research in the USA, the National Institutes of Mental Health, has at last caught up with what Frith had so cogently demonstrated, and is realigning its funding priorities accordingly. So the book is as important now as it was then.'
- Max Coltheart, Department of Cognitive Science and Centre for Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Australia

‘I came across this book as a young clinician, frustrated by the gulf between the methods of science and the complex, often terrifying, experiences that bedeviled patients. I was immediately inspired by how elegantly and humanely Frith bridged this gap, making it seem possible to understand these experiences and explore them scientifically. In the intervening years, the ideas in this book have shown their worth, providing the foundations for a neuroscience of psychosis.’
- Paul Fletcher, Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, UK

‘For decades, philosphers of mind stuck to the dogma that schizophrenia was a psychiatric condition that remained, in part, "un-understandable", because many psychotic symptoms were inacessible through empathy ("Einf�hlung"). This position has hampered progress in assigning an interpersonal dimension to the many different phenotypic manifestations of schizophrenia. It was Chris Frith's work, then, that contributed fundamentally to a novel view on psychotic experiences, suggesting that these phenomena can be understood as dysfunctional ways to connect with and reflect upon one's own and other minds to form a coherent picture of the social world. The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia is a timeless, must-read volume for all those who work with patients with schizophrenia and want to know what is going on in the patients' minds.'
- Martin Br�ne, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

'The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia, first published in 1992, is a classic, not only because it laid out an innovative understanding of some core schizophrenic symptoms, but also because it laid the groundwork for many recent theoretical developments in this area. Frith’s new introduction provides an insightful overview of related advancements since the original publication, in conceptual distinctions, in understanding brain function, in the use of brain imaging technology, and in specific research areas such as social cognition.'
- Shaun Gallagher, Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis, USA

"What’s in it for readers of a critical disposition? Firstly, the book provides concise guide to historical research and prejudices of many of those who are still working in the field. As the frequency of brain studies increases exponentially, it will be helpful to know that many of the problems the field discovered in its infancy are still here with us in the 21st century." - Andrew Fugard, Phd, Senior Lecturer in Social Science Research Methods at Birkbeck, University of London

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