Cermak sees big role for Neuropsychology
Laird Cermak, PhD, believes Neuropsychology will define the scope of the field by the beginning of the new century.
Back to Home PageNeuropsychology-the journal as well as the field_looks at brain and behavior, in the broadest terms. How the functioning of the brain determines human cognitive, behavioral and emotional functions is an area covering many subdisciplines. Laird Cermak, PhD, hopes to encourage expansion of the journal to meet the needs of this exciting, quickly growing field.
Cermak assumed the editorship of Neuropsychology in January. Before accepting the appointment, he served as associate editor with the journal's first APA editor, Nelson Butters, PhD, who died last year of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease. Cermak, a neuropsychologist at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Boston, worked with Butters to reconstruct the journal after APA purchased it in late 1990, so by its first APA volume in 1993, the journal was already developing into an important outlet.
Cermak believes that the field of neuropsychology is still evolving and that the journal will play an integral role in shaping its future.
'Neuropsychology is a discipline for which the boundaries are still being defined-it is still inventing itself' Cermak said. 'It addresses the relationship between the brain and behavior, but exactly how much that encompasses is still being formulated.'
The journal can help develop the field by providing a resource for those in or connected to it, he said. He'd like the publication to provide state-of-the-science information in the expanding discipline.
The technology boom provides a tremendous opportunity for new methods of looking at brain function, and the journal will publish reports using information such as magnetic resonance imaging, CAT or PET scans, but only when the findings shed light on the nature of behavior or behavioral change, Cermak says.
Cermak hopes the journal will remain popular among psychologists in the field, as well as attract professionals from other disciplines. By stretching into new domains, he believes that many of psychology's other subfields can contribute to that process with their methodology and behavior theories.
Neuropsychology has generally explored how brain trauma or injury causes abnormal behavior. It hasn't dealt as thoroughly with the manner in which the brain processes information in people with behaviors such as learning disabilities or hyperactivity disorders, Cermak said. 'I'd like to see more articles that talk about behavior changes that occur normally as a function of brain changes, such as what happens when people age' he said.
Cermak's experience in the field has prepared him well for the editorship. He has been a research scientist at the Boston VA Medical Center since 1979 and director of the center's psychology research since 1986. He has been a psychology professor at Boston University's School of Medicine and Sargent College since 1981.
Cermak established the Memory Disorders Research Center at the Boston VA about 10 years ago. Researchers there study memory and other problems caused by brain injury.
He emphasizes, however, that the journal is not and will not be just about memory disorders and that he'd like it to continually expand. 'What will be published in the journal is what neuropsychology will become and that's why it's so important' he said. 'The people who submit papers to this journal will define the field of neuropsychology in the future.'
Patricia Sutker, PhD, of the New Orleans VA Medical Center, is the journal's associate editor.