The Prefrontal Cortex: Fourth Edition

This is the fourth edition of the undisputed classic on the prefrontal cortex, the principal "executive" structure of the brain. Because of its role in such cognitive functions as working memory, planning, and decision-making, the prefrontal cortex is critically involved in the organization of behavior, language, and reasoning. Prefrontal dysfunction lies at the foundation of several psychotic and neurodegenerative disorders, including schizophrenia and dementia.

The Prefrontal Cortex
This is a substantial update on the undisputed classic on the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s vanguard of evolution and the setter of the human agenda, our means to invent the future and to make it present. Here is the outcome of a unique exercise in analysis and synthesis of our knowledge on the subject, from a vast empirical foundation built by five generations of clinicians and neuroscientists. Previous editions of this text have guided the work of innumerable researchers worldwide; their findings are now in the substance of this new edition. Whereas edited volumes on the frontal lobes are available, none offers the unifying interdisciplinary perspective of this single-authored volume. It examines in depth the contributions of every relevant methodology (over 2000 references), from comparative anatomy to modern imaging. From this comprehensive analysis emerges a dynamic and integrative view of the prefrontal cortex, at the apex of the perception-action cycle, steering toward their goal the temporal gestalts of behavior, language, and reasoning. The author is the discoverer of the “memory cells, the physiological substrate of working memory; in recent years awarded the International Fyssen Prize (2000), the Goldman-Rakic Prize from NARSAD (2006), and the Miller Prize from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (2006).

* A substantial and long-awaited update of the undisputed bible of the field
* Unique analysis and synthesis of a large body of basic and clinical data on the subject (over 2000 references)
* Previous editions of this book, a graduate students’ favorite, have instigated the research of countless researchers worldwide
* A distinctly interdisciplinary view of the prefrontal cortex covering all major methodologies, from comparative anatomy to modern imaging
* Of immediate interest to basic and translational neuroscientists, biologists, psychologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists