Electrical Stimulation of the Brain

This is an unusually handsome and skillfully edited volume of contributions which has some of the attributes of an introductory text in the area of brain and behavior and methodologies for their combined study. No other single volume has so successfully approached the task of presenting (rather than merely providing) a survey of "neurobehavioral integrative systems." The volume had its inception with that hallmark of intellectual togetherness , a symposium, held in 1956 in Houston; it has now finally been delivered into publication after extensive, though not thorough, revisions and additions. Between 1950 and 1960, some 18 interdisciplinary conferences on brain and behavior were recorded in some form, but the dissemination of such collective wisdom has tended to expand bibliographies more than general knowledge. The consequential shifts over the past 12 years in our conceptions of the organization of the nervous system and its relation to behavior are difficult to convey to students and scientists interested in the biology of behavior. Nor could such parties heretofore call upon any single text for orientation to currently evolving research. While uneven, this volume makes some headway towards that end. It contains historical and evalu-ative survey and summary as well as concrete exposition of methods and experiments. A sophisticated concern for behavioral variables in physiological experiments is evident; in turn, demonstration of the patterned complexities of brain function brings new understanding to forces governing the organization of behavior. The book is given some unity by Sheer's review of the historical background of interdisciplinary research in brain and behavior and by three remarkable summary chapters on the implications of recent developments for theories of reinforcement (Miller), for the neurological sciences (Jasper), and for systematic studies of behavior (Pribram). There is a section on techniques of electrode implantation and recording with contributions from Delgado, Lilly, Amassian and others; the section on neuro-anatomical correlates includes stereotaxic atlases of the diencephalon of rat, cat and monkey. The chapter on neurophysiologic correlates of electrical stimulation of the brain contains excellent reviews of the brain stem and thalamic reticular systems, the diencephalon, the limbic system and cerebral interactions by Worden, Livingston, Jasper and others. The section on behavioral correlates ranges from Lindsley's studies of reticular systems and perception, Old's research on self-stimulation, to various studies of the effects of electrical activity upon learning and motivation by Flynn, Brady, Doty and others. Finally, there is a section on experiential correlates …