Sensory Environments, Brain Damage, and Drugs: A Review of Interactions and Mediating Mechanisms

Abstract

The sensory environment appears to play a greater role than was previously appreciated in the etiology of, and recovery from, brain damage. This paper reviews the interaction between brain damage and complex and deprived environments, the nature of mechanisms which may mediate these effects, and the studies of stimulant drug effects on these processes. It is suggested that our traditional concepts of causation and mediating mechanisms have been overly simple and that we need to move to a more holistic multidimensional interactive perspective.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roger Walsh

Joyce Laing works in the Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, Playfield House, Cupar, Fife, and is a Consultant Art Therapist to Psychiatric Hospitals and Prisons and Chairwoman of the Scottish Society of Art and Psychology.