The book Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology was born of a need that Dr. Bryan Kolb recognized while completing his postdoctoral fellowship at the Montreal Neurological Institute with Dr. Brenda Milner. Dr. Kolb had asked his colleagues for a textbook on the human brain and, finding none, decided to create a course about “neuropsychology.” Now, Drs. Kolb and Whishaw’s textbook is about to be released in its 8th edition. John and Ryan talk with Dr. Kolb about his book, the contribution of animal research to human neuropsychology, the importance of the history of our field, advice on working with a co-author, and much more.
A pdf of the transcript for this episode is available here.
Topics Covered
- The genesis of the Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology (FHN)
- How FHN contributes to the current neuropsychology literature base
- The rationale for the organization of FHN
- The use of the word “neuropsychology” to describe both human and animal studies
- The importance of animal research to the understanding of the brain and human cognition
- Why the history of neuropsychology is fundamental to our understanding of the field
- The reason behind the inclusion of a number of case studies in FHN
- Why it is important for neuropsychologists and neuroscientists to study each other’s fields
- How can trainees and neuropsychologists best use FHN
- Advice for scientists and clinicians who are aspiring authors
- What is new in the 8th edition of FHN
- Advice for teaching neuropsychology to undergraduate students
- Kolb’s research on the presence of a prefrontal cortex in rodents
- What it was like working with Dr. Brenda Milner
About Bryan
Dr. Bryan Kolb, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. He is a co-author of the book Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, which was published in its first edition in 1980, as well as Introduction to Brain and Behavior. He has written over 300 articles and chapters, and has numerous honors and awards.
I really enjoyed this interview. Thank you. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in Bryan’s teaching a couple of times now and he always so interesting and informative.
This was a great episode! As a neuroscientist, and later a neuropsychologist, I really appreciate the need for more integrative training between the disciplines. Having trained under Edith Kaplan and Harold Goodglass, we were always taught to know the brain, connect to the behavior, and relook at the brain!