Cognitive neuroimaging for all

Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognitionedited by Roberto Cabeza and Alan Kingston, MIT Press, 2001.US$65.00/£41.50 (418 pages)ISBN 0 262 03280 5Since the seminal work by Raichle and colleagues in the early 1980s [1xBrain blood flow measured with intravenous H215O. II. Implementation and validation. Raichle, M.E et al. J. Nucl. Med. 1983; 24: 790–798PubMedSee all References][1], which initiated the use of repeated PET experiments to study human brain function, the number of publications pertaining to the functional imaging of human cognition has increased by several orders of magnitude. There is no end in sight to this productivity. Thus, any book dealing with this topic must provide both an adequate review of the literature, and a sufficiently fresh perspective on new developments for it not to be rendered obsolete, on publication, by the rapid growth of this field. The Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition performs admirably in both these respects. This multi-author volume is the product of a 1998 conference involving a select group of neuroscientists who shared the common vision of using brain-mapping techniques to study human cognition.The book is organized into three sections: ‘History and Methods’, ‘Cognitive Domains’, and ‘Special Populations’. The first gives the reader an overview of the field and a discussion of several current issues in functional neuroimaging. Topics covered include the nature of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent response (BOLD) in fMRI, the coupling between glucose metabolism, oxygen consumption and blood flow, the theory of event-related analyses, and systems approaches to imaging (as exemplified by structural equation modeling). The second section covers specific cognitive domains, including attention, visual recognition, language and the semantic, episodic and working aspects of memory. However, it excludes numerous other cognitive domains, such as emotional facets of cognition. Rather than detracting from the book, the focus of this section allows the reader to develop a better understanding of these themes without becoming bogged down in what would otherwise have been a much longer volume. The last section examines aging and neuropsychologically impaired populations.Although the contents of individual chapters reflect the biases of their authors, most chapters include well over 100 citations, and thus provide the reader with a reasonably broad view of each topic. The chapters on semantic memory, language and aging are particularly inclusive. Some chapters also include a discussion of particular technological points championed by individual authors. For example, the chapter on attention focuses on the use of event-related potentials, and the one on visual recognition demonstrates the examination of signal-intensity differences across conditions. Within each chapter, a sub-section on ‘Issues’ gives the reader a sense of some outstanding questions in each cognitive and technological domain. The editors are to be complimented for maintaining this consistent organization and focus throughout the text.In the preface, the editors described this as a book for both the novice and experienced cognitive neuroimager. I agree with that assessment. For the novice, this book would provide a good overview of neuroimaging across a number of cognitive domains. For those with more experience in neuroimaging, the discussions of the concepts underlying various experiments will certainly provide a basis for future investigations. Although this book provides neither the technical details nor the more comprehensive review of volumes such as Human Brain Function [2xSee all References][2] or the Brain Mapping trilogy [3xSee all References][3], its organization and readability make it an excellent choice for anyone interested in the rapidly growing field of using functional neuroimaging to investigate human cognition.