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The Brain and Human Behavior. Proc. Assoc. Res. Nerv. Ment. Dis., Vol. XXXVI. (Baillière, Tindall and Cox. London, 1958. Pp. 564.)
The first of these books is a report of a conference devoted entirely to the contribution of Russian neurophysiologists to the study of behaviour, i.e. the work of Pavlov, his precursors and successors. Research into conditioned reflexes and kindred phenomena is of interest to psycho-analysis, in whose origin the model of reflex action played an important part. The two approaches are not incompatible, although no consistent attempt at integrating them has yet been made. Some of the observations reported in this symposium throw light on areas of mutual concern, e.g. the effect of a slight electric shock on the newborn sheep. It is severely traumatic if the animal is separated from its mother, but quite innocuous in the mother's presence. The book contains a historical survey of the Russian contribution to the physiology of behaviour. Neglect of the subjective aspects of behaviour has been one of the weaknesses of the Russian approach.
The second book contains contributions by leading Western physiologists to the study of behaviour. In contrast to the Russian orientation which is based on one basic concept, in this conference report a variety of concepts and methods have been brought to bear on behaviour problems. Most of the twenty-one articles are highly technical. For the clinician, Hoch's and Nielsen's papers are of interest. The former, entitled 'Psychoses-producing and Psychoses-relieving Drugs' deals with the so-called experimental or model psychoses and their treatment by tranquillizers. Nielsen's study on 'Cerebral Localization and Psychoses' arrives at the conclusion that cerebral lesions are apt to cause psychotic disorders only if they involve structures concerned with the emotions. In other articles the effects on behaviour of lesions of various parts of the brain are discussed. Students of behaviour, whatever t