BrainBlog

This post, and all others on BrainBlog, are written by Anthony Risser for his blog BrainBlog. The appearance of this entry, and others, on different websites, framed under different websites, or not at the BrainBlog URL do not have my permission. All rights retained. Michael C. Corballis The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization Princeton: Princeton University Press (2011) ISBN 978-0-691-14547-1 This is the first time I have read any of the several philosophical books that Michael Corballis has written. I am more familiar with his scientific publications, some of which are core “must reads” for any budding neuropsychological researcher. In “The Recursive Mind,” he outlines his approach to placing the relationship between language and thought. This is an issue that has compelled thinking in neurophilosophy for many decades and remains hotly debated and discussed. In this new book, he explores the landscape of this relationship in a manner...

Taking a look this week at new texts in introductory neuroscience & neuropsychology and at new books about the brain written for a general audience. It is always a fun activity to see what's out there, and the selections just get better and better each year! What are your favs of 2011?

Summer School in Applied Psychometrics From the website: Date: Monday, 12 September to Friday, 16 September Location: Peterhouse College, Cambridge Time: All Day Event "Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a popular and rapidly evolving area of psychometric research that builds on a long-standing methodology of self-report questionnaires. Today the assessment, analysis and interpretation of these questionnaires and of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) rely upon a variety of modern psychometric methods that might be beyond the typical methodological/statistical training that researcher of related disciplines receive. This Summer School will cover the fundamentals of psychometric test theory as applied to HRQoL and PROs, with particular emphasis on latent trait/ Item Response Theory (IRT) models and methods, and will include practical sessions and data from real-world applications trials and cohort studies. The Summer School is supported by the ESRC RDI (Researcher D...

This week's podcast includes The Guardian's new neuroscience blogger, Mo Costandi. Listen to the podcast

Award-winning U of W prof dies BY DYLAN KRISTY THE WINDSOR STAR AUGUST 12, 2011 6:55 AM Click here for full article and photograph With a long string of letters following his name, Byron Rourke could have settled down anywhere in the world. "He was born, raised, had a wonderful life in Windsor and eventually died there and he wouldn't have had it any other way," said Phil Rourke, Rourke's oldest son. "He had lots of opportunities to move elsewhere and every time he thought about it he said 'no, I'm going to make it here.'" A retired University of Windsor professor of psychology and the recipient of numerous prestigious academic awards, Rourke died Wednesday at the age of 72. Growing up in Windsor, Rourke attended Assumption high school before receiving his honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Windsor. He the received a master's degree and PhD at Fordham University in New York before returning home to live a...