Research on Recovery: Ends and Means

Abstract

The emergence of the study of recovery of function following brain damage as a major research area within the neurosciences dates back less than two decades. During that short period it has developed rapidly and, as Stein and Glasier (this volume) have observed, its growth has been particularly marked in the period since the first European Brain and Behaviour Society meeting on the subject in 1981⁴⁵ Certainly it is an area of neuroscience in which recent developments have captured the imaginations not only of scientists, clinicians and others with an interest in recovery but also, to some extent, the public at large. As we have noted elsewhere:

“Research on recovery is now a multinational, multidisciplinary and multimillion dollar activity, the progress of which can be charted through numerous conferences, in several major books and, more recently, in the emergence of journals devoted to this area --- ” (Rose & Johnson³⁷).

That this investment of expertise, enthusiasm and money has paid some dividends is clear: evidence is to be found in the pages of the present volume. Perhaps most notable is the dramatic progress which has occurred in the field of neural implantation (see Hitchcock, Sinden et al., and Stein and Glasier, this volume). Two decades ago the focus of this area of enquiry consisted of just a handful of published reports. Now there are hundreds of publications on the subject and, whilst there are many problems still to resolve, we have a considerable appreciation of the mechanisms underlying successful implantation, the effects of implantation on the host brain and the possible role of such effects in restoring impaired function.