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What Patients can Tell us About Normal Cognition

Perhaps the greatest contributions to understanding brain-behavior relationships have come from detailed evaluations of behavioral deficits following brain damage. Central to this approach has been the understanding that a constellation of cognitive deficits can arise following circumscribed damage to the brain, and that the study of these deficits can provide insights into the workings of the human mind. This ‘‘syndrome based’’ approach has historically been the cornerstone of modern neuropsychology, behavioral neurology, and cognitive neuroscience. However, with the advent of modern functional neuroimaging techniques, which often entice researchers into somewhat of a compliant view of brain-behavior relationships, it is often easy to overlook what we have learned from our studies of patients with specific neurobehavioral syndromes. Nevertheless, as scientists who study behavior and cognition, we often find ourselves having to explain somewhat confusing results obtained from functional imaging studies in light of what we know from our study of patients. This observation suggests rather convincingly that researchers must continue to attempt to understand how we can learn about normal cognitive processes through the study of neurobehavioral deficits following brain damage. In his edited book, Neurological Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, Mark D’Esposito has provided an excellent collection of chapters on various neurobehavioral syndromes written by many of the world’s leading researchers and clinicians in behavioral neurology. This book serves as a potent reminder as to the importance of understanding how cognition can fractionate into identifiable syndromes following brain damage, and how the understanding of these syndromes can inform us about how the brain mediates cognition. In the preface of his book, D’Esposito states that his ‘‘motivation for creating this book was to provide a collection of chapters that would highlight the interface between the study of patients with cognitive deficits and the study of cognition in normal individuals.’’ This book has been quite successful in carrying out this objective in that it provides excellent reviews on how various neurobehavioral syndromes have informed researchers about normal cognition. D’Esposito also indicates in the preface that the book is not meant to provide detailed descriptions of the various syndromes reviewed nor is meant to be a formal introduction to the field of cognitive neuroscience. As such, the book is very focused as to the task at hand: describing what we have learned about normal cognition through the study of patients. Each chapter is written by leading behavioral neurologists who are also leading cognitive neuroscientists. Thus, these authors are able to provide very unique insights into the interface between studies of normal cognition and patients with various neurobehavioral syndromes.