Book Review

Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Typical Development

Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Atypical Development

N Engl J Med 2007; 357:1563-1564October 11, 2007

Article

Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Typical Development
Edited by Donna Coch, Kurt W. Fischer, and Geraldine Dawson. 412 pp., illustrated. New York, Guilford Press, 2007. $50. ISBN: 978-1-59385-136-1

Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Atypical Development
Edited by Donna Coch, Geraldine Dawson, and Kurt W. Fischer. 378 pp., illustrated. New York, Guilford Press, 2007. $50. ISBN: 978-1-59385-137-8

The concept that emotional, cognitive, sensory, and motor functions reside in the brain dates from antiquity. It was not until the mid-19th century, however, that localization of specific functions in the human brain was demonstrated when consistent lesions were found in the brains of patients who had deficits in defined neurologic abilities. In most cases, the lesions were the result of cerebrovascular disease, accidents, violent crimes, or wars, and so the patients studied were mainly adults. In the first half of the 20th century, cortical stimulation in patients who were awake during neurosurgery added to our knowledge of brain localization.

The second half of the 20th century saw the development of noninvasive techniques that made it possible to undertake studies of healthy adults and of control and clinical populations of children. These new tools included spectrum analysis of electroencephalograms and the study of event-related potentials, which are changes in the electrical activity of the brain that can be recorded and temporally correlated with responses to environmental stimuli or with cognitive tasks. Another set of tools allowed detailed images to be made of the intact living brain. The images could be structural (computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) or functional (functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron-emission tomography, single-photon-emission computed tomography), with or without the administration of contrast agents or markers that bind to specific brain structures. Still newer techniques, such as magnetoencephalography and magnetic stimulation of the brain, have been added to the tools that are available.

Confocal Micrograph of Purkinje Cells in the Cerebellum.

The first of the two multiauthored volumes, Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Typical Development, is devoted to studies of children with typical development. These studies use the new electrophysiological and anatomical and functional imaging tools as well as other noninvasive techniques. The first third of the book provides discussion of background issues that are related to neuroscience and theories of human development, longitudinal development of the human brain, and the development of differences in function of the cerebral hemispheres. One chapter is devoted to a discussion of ways in which these research findings could be relevant to education, although the author is guarded in his conclusions about the utility of the data at this time.

The other two sections of the book are discussions of brain development in infants and toddlers and in school-age children and adolescents. The areas of brain function that are emphasized in these chapters are temperament, emotion, behavior, memory, and language and reading. All the chapters are in-depth reviews of the literature, but they vary somewhat in how much of the information is derived from the authors' own research. The chapters are rich in content and well organized, but they are mainly separate entities with only occasional cross-references to other chapters.

The second volume, Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Atypical Development, focuses on children with atypical development. After an introductory chapter discussing research on the children of mothers with diabetes as an approach to atypical development, there are 12 chapters that focus on specific developmental disabilities. These diagnostic categories are for the most part common and therefore important, but instead of providing a systematic overview of developmental disabilities, the authors appear to have chosen the disorders on the basis of the large amount of research that has been done in specific areas. The disorders they discuss include autism, social perception deficits, and psychopathology; developmental dyslexia, language disorders, and verbal and orofacial dyspraxia; developmental dyscalculia; stress and child maltreatment; conduct disorder and attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder; and Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder that is viewed as a model for understanding some of the genetic underpinnings of cognitive abnormalities.

As in the first book, there is a wealth of well-organized information. Many of the authors give a rationale for their choice of comparison groups, which is always a problem in studies of atypical development in children. Whether one uses age-matched “normal” subjects or developmentally matched control subjects can produce a substantial difference in the outcome of the study. The issue of how the dividing line between normal and abnormal subjects is chosen when the traits that are being studied fall on a continuous distribution is not fully addressed, nor is the effect of coexisting conditions, which are often found in children with developmental abnormalities. As in the first volume, the authors' discussions of the implications of this research for the education of children are speculative. Some of the authors discuss their research as a tool that could be used for the early identification of developmental disabilities, which would allow children to be enrolled in early intervention programs.

These books rank among the most data-dense volumes I have ever read. In some chapters, it seems as if every sentence is followed by a citation to the literature. The references are reasonably up-to-date, with many from 2005 and a few from 2006 — quite acceptable for an edited, multiauthored text. It should be noted that the authors and editors are well qualified and active in their areas of research.

The question of the appropriate audience for these books is a difficult one to answer. They are not primary textbooks for an introductory course in cognitive neuroscience or in developmental or experimental psychology. The authors and editors seem to assume that the reader has a working knowledge of the research techniques that are used, and discussion of the benefits and limitations of the various research methods is relatively sparse. More space is devoted to the presentation of research data than to the synthesis of the data's meaning. The amount of information that is presented and the numerous citations to the literature are extraordinary and make both of these books excellent reference sources for readers with some background and expertise in the field and for those who are pursuing research in one of the specific areas that is presented. These volumes are valuable, but they are not for the novice, the dilettante, or the faint of heart.

Gerald S. Golden, M.D.
2301 Cherry St., Apt. 8F, Philadelphia, PA 19103
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