Preface to The Third Edition

I was persuaded that the 2007 edition was in need of an update and eventually agreed, somewhat daunted by the task. Although there have been few fundamental changes to our understanding of the core cognitive abilities, quite a few minor amendments and revisions were needed, particularly to the section dealing with social cognition. There have been advances in the classification of the dementias with the recognition of a third form of progressive aphasia—so-called logopenic progressive aphasia—a description of which has been included. There have also been considerable advances in our knowledge of the pathology and genetics of frontotemporal dementia requiring modification to Chapter 2. In terms of cognitive assessment instruments, the Montreal Cognitive Examination (MoCA) has gained ground to become a widely used rival to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and has, therefore been incorporated into Chapter 6. Since the second edition, the ACE has undergone further revision to become the ACE-III described in Chapter 7 and which now forms the basis of the revised case illustrations described in Chapter 8. Thankfully there have been few changes to the neuropsychological tests used in routine clinical practice so the Appendix is largely unchanged.