Synopses & Reviews
The Lost Self :Pathologies of the Brain and Identity is an in-depth exploration of one of the most mysterious and controversial topics in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry and psychology-namely, the search for the biological basis of the self. The book is a guide to understanding how the brain creates who we are, and what happens when things go wrong. For the first time in a single volume, some of the foremost experts in the fields of philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, neurology, and psychology join together to explore the neurobiology of the self. They first lay the foundation for an understanding of the topic. Then they provide fascinating and detailed accounts of how the self is transformed in patients with brain lesions, autism, and dementia, as well as in drug induced states, during meditation, and while dreaming. Their analysis of these disorders and states is used as a springboard toward a deeper understanding of how a brain creates a self. This fascinating volume will be invaluable to neuroscientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, and philosophers of mind, and to their students and trainees.
Review
"...very interesting anthology.... a very good read." --PsycCRITIQUES
Table of Contents
Preface 1. Introduction
Todd E. Feinberg and Julian Paul Keenan
2. The Self as a Problem in Philosophy and Neurobiology
John R. Searle (University of California, Berkeley)
3. The Cognitive Neuroscience of the Self: Insights from Functional Neuroimaging of the Normal Brain, Seth J. Gillihan and Martha J. Farah (University of Pennsylvania, both)
4. Neural Hierarchies and the Self, Todd E. Feinberg
5. The Frontal Lobes and Self-Awareness, Donald T. Stuss, R. Shayna Rosenbaum, Sarah Malcolm, William Christiana, and Julian P Keenan (DS, RR: University of Toronto; SM, WC: Montclair State University)
6. Esther Fujiwara and Hans J. Markowitsch (EF: University of Toronto; HM: University of Bielefeld, Germany)
7. Georg Goldenberg (Krankenhaus Munchen Bogenhause, Germany)
8. Right Hemisphere Pathology and the Self: Delusional Misidentification and Reduplication, Todd E. Feinberg, John DeLuca, Joseph T Giacino, David M. Roane, Marc Solms (JL: UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School; JG: Seton Hall University; DR: Albert Einstein College of Medicine; MS: University of Capetown, South Africa
9. The Mirror Sign Delusional Misidentification Symptom, Karen Spangenberg Postal (Neuropsychology Consultants)
10. Disorders of the Self in Dementia, William W. Seeley and Bruce L. Miller (University of California, San Francisco, both)
11. Autism - 'autos': literally, a total focus on the self?, Simon Baron-Cohen (Cambridge University)
12. Recognizing the Sensory Consequences of One's own Actions and Delusions of Control, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (University College London)
13. The Neurological Correlates of Depersonalization: A Disorder of Self-Awareness, Hedy Kober, Alysa Ray, Sukhvinder Obhi, Kevin Guise and Julian Paul Keenan (HK: Columbia University; AR: George Washington University; SO: University of Western Ontario; KG: Montclair State University)
14. The Self in Dreams, Antti Revonsuo (University of Turku, Finland)
15. Psychoactive Agents and the Self, Roy J. Mathew (Texas Tech Health Sciences Center)
16. Meditation and the Self, Hans C. Lou and Troels W. Kjaer (HL: Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark; TK: Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark)
17. The Enduring Self: A First Person Account of Brain Insult Survival, J. Allan Hobson (Harvard Medical School)