Paul Eling – författare

During the 1790s in Vienna, German physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) came forth with a new doctrine dealing with mind, brain and behavior—one that could account for individual differences. He maintained that there are many independent faculties of mind, each associated with a separate part of the brain. He fine-tuned his ideas and published two sets of books presenting them after he and his assistant, Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, settled in Paris in 1807.

Gall''s ideas had many supporters but were controversial and unsettling to others. In particular, the opposition ridiculed his belief that skull features reflect the growth of specific, underlying cortical organs, and hence correlate with personality traits (i.e., his ‘bumpology’). Gall’s fundamental ideas about the mind and organization of the brain were debated across the globe, and they also began to be exploited by unscrupulous businessmen, ‘professors’ who ‘read skulls’ for a living. But, as some historians have shown, his ideas about mind, brain and behavior led to the modern neurosciences.

The chapters collected in this volume provide new insights into Gall’s thinking and what Spurzheim did, and the faddish movement called ‘phrenology’, which originated as a science of humankind but became a popular source of entertainment. All chapters were originally published in various issues of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.

During the 1790s in Vienna, German physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) came forth with a new doctrine dealing with mind, brain and behavior—one that could account for individual differences. He maintained that there are many independent faculties of mind, each associated with a separate part of the brain. He fine-tuned his ideas and published two sets of books presenting them after he and his assistant, Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, settled in Paris in 1807.

Gall''s ideas had many supporters but were controversial and unsettling to others. In particular, the opposition ridiculed his belief that skull features reflect the growth of specific, underlying cortical organs, and hence correlate with personality traits (i.e., his ‘bumpology’). Gall’s fundamental ideas about the mind and organization of the brain were debated across the globe, and they also began to be exploited by unscrupulous businessmen, ‘professors’ who ‘read skulls’ for a living. But, as some historians have shown, his ideas about mind, brain and behavior led to the modern neurosciences.

The chapters collected in this volume provide new insights into Gall’s thinking and what Spurzheim did, and the faddish movement called ‘phrenology’, which originated as a science of humankind but became a popular source of entertainment. All chapters were originally published in various issues of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.

Wat elke professional over het geheugen moet weten geeft een overzicht over de vele verschijnselen, ideeën en verklaringen over aspecten van het geheugen. Men kan daarbij denken aan het langetermijngeheugen voor gebeurtenissen en kennis, maar ook het werkgeheugen en het leren van vaardigheden en andere vormen van leren zoals het conditioneren. De relatie met slaap en emotie, het fotografisch geheugen en ‘geheugenwonders’ komen aan de orde, evenals de jaarlijks terugkerende vraag hoe voor een examen geleerd moet worden. Vervolgens worden ook de hersenstructuren besproken die betrokken zijn bij de diverse leer- en geheugenprocessen. Dat ons geheugen zo goed functioneert is belangrijk, maar dat wordt meestal pas duidelijk als het misgaat. In het dagelijks leven ervaart iedereen wel eens problemen met het functioneren van het geheugen. Daarnaast treden geheugenstoornissen op bij tal van neurologische en psychiatrische aandoeningen. Die worden in de klinische praktijk met tal van tests onderzocht. Dit alles wordt op een systematische maar puntige wijze beschreven. Tot slot worden ook voor de diverse onderdelen literatuurtips gegeven.

Wij zijn ons geheugen en wij ervaren ook regelmatig dat ons geheugen ons in de steek laat. Dit boek zal voor vele professionals van uiteenlopende disciplines (artsen, (neuro)psychologen, pedagogen, enz.) inzicht bieden in de complexiteit van het geheugenproces, de diversiteit aan problemen en stoornissen, de mogelijkheden om die te inventariseren en er eventueel iets aan te doen.