Neuropsychology
Encyclopedia
Neuropsychology studies the structure and function of the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

 related to specific psychological processes and behaviors. The term neuropsychology has been applied to lesion studies
Lesion
A lesion is any abnormality in the tissue of an organism , usually caused by disease or trauma. Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio which means injury.- Types :...

 in humans and animals. It has also been applied to efforts to record electrical activity from individual cells (or groups of cells) in higher primates (including some studies of human patients). It is scientific
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...

 in its approach and shares an information processing
Information processing
Information processing is the change of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process which describes everything which happens in the universe, from the falling of a rock to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system...

 view of the mind with cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....

 and cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...

.

In practice neuropsychologists tend to work in clinical settings (involved in assessing or treating patients with neuropsychological problems see clinical neuropsychology
Clinical neuropsychology
Clinical neuropsychology is a sub-field of psychology concerned with the cognitive function of individuals with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Neuropsychological assessment examines cognitive function in the broadest sense, including the behavioural, emotional, social and functional status...

), forensic settings or industry (often as consultants where neuropsychological knowledge is applied to product design or in the management of pharmaceutical clinical-trials research for drugs that might have a potential impact on CNS functioning).

Approaches

Experimental neuropsychology is an approach which uses methods from experimental psychology
Experimental psychology
Experimental psychology is a methodological approach, rather than a subject, and encompasses varied fields within psychology. Experimental psychologists have traditionally conducted research, published articles, and taught classes on neuroscience, developmental psychology, sensation, perception,...

 to uncover the relationship between the nervous system and cognitive function. The majority of work involves studying healthy humans in a laboratory setting, although a minority of researchers may conduct animal experiments. Human work in this area often takes advantage of specific features of our nervous system (for example that visual information presented to a specific visual field
Visual field
The term visual field is sometimes used as a synonym to field of view, though they do not designate the same thing. The visual field is the "spatial array of visual sensations available to observation in introspectionist psychological experiments", while 'field of view' "refers to the physical...

 is preferentially processed by the cortical
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different...

 hemisphere on the opposite side) to make links between neuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy is the study of the anatomy and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defined nervous systems, and thus we can begin to speak of...

 and psychological function.

Clinical neuropsychology
Clinical neuropsychology
Clinical neuropsychology is a sub-field of psychology concerned with the cognitive function of individuals with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Neuropsychological assessment examines cognitive function in the broadest sense, including the behavioural, emotional, social and functional status...

 is the application of neuropsychological knowledge to the assessment (see neuropsychological test
Neuropsychological test
Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. Tests are used for research into brain function and in a clinical setting for the diagnosis of deficits. They usually involve the...

 and neuropsychological assessment
Neuropsychological assessment
Neuropsychological assessment was traditionally carried out to assess the extent of impairment to a particular skill and to attempt to locate an area of the brain which may have been damaged after brain injury or neurological illness...

), management, and rehabilitation
Rehabilitation (neuropsychology)
Rehabilitation of sensory and cognitive function typically involves methods for retraining neural pathways or training new neural pathways to regain or improve neurocognitive functioning that has been diminished by disease or traumatic injury....

 of people who have suffered illness or injury (particularly to the brain) which has caused neurocognitive
Neurocognitive
Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain substrate layers of neurological matrix at the cellular molecular level...

 problems. In particular they bring a psychological viewpoint to treatment, to understand how such illness and injury may affect and be affected by psychological factors. They also can offer an opinion as to whether a person is demonstrating difficulties due to brain pathology or as a consequence of an emotional or another (potentially) reversible cause or both. For example, a test might show that both patients X and Y are unable to name items that they have been previously exposed to within the past 20 minutes (indicating possible dementia). If patient Y can name some of them with further prompting (e.g. given a categorical clue such as being told that the item they could not name is a fruit), this allows a more specific diagnosis than simply dementia (Y appears to have the vascular type which is due to brain pathology but is usually at least somewhat reversible). Clinical neuropsychologists often work in hospital settings in an interdisciplinary medical team; others work in private practice and may provide expert input into medico-legal proceedings.

Cognitive neuropsychology
Cognitive neuropsychology
Cognitive neuropsychology is a branch of cognitive psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes. It places a particular emphasis on studying the cognitive effects of brain injury or neurological illness with a view to...

 is a relatively new development and has emerged as a distillation of the complementary approaches of both experimental and clinical neuropsychology. It seeks to understand the mind and brain by studying people who have suffered brain injury or neurological illness. One model of neuropsychological functioning is known as functional localization. This is based on the principle that if a specific cognitive problem can be found after an injury to a specific area of the brain, it is possible that this part of the brain is in some way involved. However, there may be reason to believe that the link between mental functions and neural regions is not so simple. An alternative model of the link between mind and brain, such as parallel processing
Parallel processing
Parallel processing is the ability to carry out multiple operations or tasks simultaneously. The term is used in the contexts of both human cognition, particularly in the ability of the brain to simultaneously process incoming stimuli, and in parallel computing by machines.-Parallel processing by...

, may have more explanatory power for the workings and dysfunction of the human brain. Yet another approach investigates how the pattern of errors produced by brain-damaged individuals can constrain our understanding of mental representations and processes without reference to the underlying neural structure. A more recent but related approach is cognitive neuropsychiatry
Cognitive neuropsychiatry
Cognitive neuropsychiatry is a sub-discipline of psychology and psychiatry that aims to understand mental illness and psychopathology in terms of models of normal psychological function. It is also a way of uncovering normal psychological processes by studying the effects of their change or...

 which seeks to understand the normal function of mind and brain by studying psychiatric or mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

.

Connectionism
Connectionism
Connectionism is a set of approaches in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience and philosophy of mind, that models mental or behavioral phenomena as the emergent processes of interconnected networks of simple units...

 is the use of artificial neural network
Artificial neural network
An artificial neural network , usually called neural network , is a mathematical model or computational model that is inspired by the structure and/or functional aspects of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons, and it processes...

s to model specific cognitive processes using what are considered to be simplified but plausible models of how neurons operate. Once trained to perform a specific cognitive task these networks are often damaged or 'lesioned' to simulate brain injury or impairment in an attempt to understand and compare the results to the effects of brain injury in humans.

Functional neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging is the use of neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions...

 uses specific neuroimaging
Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/pharmacology of the brain...

 technologies to take readings from the brain, usually when a person is doing a particular task, in an attempt to understand how the activation of particular brain areas is related to the task. In particular, the growth of methodologies to employ cognitive testing within established functional magnetic resonance imaging
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI is a type of specialized MRI scan used to measure the hemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals. It is one of the most recently developed forms of neuroimaging...

 (fMRI) techniques to study brain-behavior relations is having a notable influence on neuropsychological research.

In practice these approaches are not mutually exclusive and most neuropsychologists select the best approach or approaches for the task to be completed.

Methods and tools

  • The use of standardized neuropsychological tests. These tasks have been designed so the performance on the task can be linked to specific neurocognitive
    Neurocognitive
    Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain substrate layers of neurological matrix at the cellular molecular level...

     processes. These tests are typically standardized, meaning that they have been administered to a specific group (or groups) of individuals before being used in individual clinical cases. The data resulting from standardization are known as normative data. After these data have been collected and analyzed, they are used as the comparative standard against which individual performances can be compared. Examples of neuropsychological tests include: the Wechsler Adult Memory Scale (WMS), the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
    Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
    The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale intelligence quotient tests are the primary clinical instruments used to measure adult and adolescent intelligence. The original WAIS was published in February 1955 by David Wechsler, as a revision of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale...

     (WAIS), and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
    Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
    The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children , developed by Dr. David Wechsler, is an individually administered intelligence test for children between the ages of 6 and 16 inclusive that can be completed without reading or writing...

     (WISC). Other tests include the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery
    Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery
    The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery is a combination of neuropsychological tests used to assessment the possible physical aspects and localization of neurological damage.The Battery includes:...

    , the Boston Naming Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Benton Visual Retention Test
    Benton Visual Retention Test
    The Benton Visual Retention Test is an individually administered test for ages 8-adult that measures visual perception and visual memory . It can also be used to help identify possible learning disabilities. The child is shown 10 designs, one at a time, and asked to reproduce each one as exactly...

    , and the Controlled Oral Word Association. (The Woodcock Johnson and the Nelson-Denny are not neuropsychological tests per se. They are psycho-educational batteries of tests used to measure an individual's intra-disciplinary strengths and weakness in specific academic areas (writing, reading and arithmetic)).

  • The use of brain scans to investigate the structure or function of the brain is common, either as simply a way of better assessing brain injury with high resolution pictures, or by examining the relative activations of different brain areas. Such technologies may include fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and positron emission tomography
    Positron emission tomography
    Positron emission tomography is nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide , which is introduced into the body on a...

     (PET), which yields data related to functioning, as well as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and computed axial tomography (CAT or CT), which yields structural data...

  • The use of electrophysiological
    Electrophysiology
    Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...

     measures designed to measure the activation of the brain by measuring the electrical or magnetic field produced by the nervous system. This may include electroencephalography
    Electroencephalography
    Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...

     (EEG) or magneto-encephalography (MEG).

  • The use of designed experimental tasks, often controlled by computer and typically measuring reaction time and accuracy on a particular tasks thought to be related to a specific neurocognitive
    Neurocognitive
    Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain substrate layers of neurological matrix at the cellular molecular level...

     process. An example of this is the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery
    Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery
    The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery , originally developed at the University of Cambridge in the 1980s but now provided in a commercial capacity by Cambridge Cognition, is a computer-based cognitive assessment system consisting of a battery of neuropsychological tests,...

     (CANTAB).

See also

  • Behavioral neurology
    Behavioral neurology
    Behavioral neurology is a subspecialty of neurology that studies the neurological basis of behavior, memory, and cognition, the impact of neurological damage and disease upon these functions, and the treatment thereof. Two fields associated with behavioral neurology are neuropsychiatry and...

  • Biological psychology
  • Brain fitness
    Brain fitness
    The term brain fitness reflects a hypothesis that cognitive abilities can be maintained or improved by exercising the brain, in analogy to the way physical fitness is improved by exercising the body...

  • Clinical neuropsychology
    Clinical neuropsychology
    Clinical neuropsychology is a sub-field of psychology concerned with the cognitive function of individuals with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Neuropsychological assessment examines cognitive function in the broadest sense, including the behavioural, emotional, social and functional status...

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Cognitive neuropsychiatry
    Cognitive neuropsychiatry
    Cognitive neuropsychiatry is a sub-discipline of psychology and psychiatry that aims to understand mental illness and psychopathology in terms of models of normal psychological function. It is also a way of uncovering normal psychological processes by studying the effects of their change or...

  • Cognitive neuropsychology
    Cognitive neuropsychology
    Cognitive neuropsychology is a branch of cognitive psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes. It places a particular emphasis on studying the cognitive effects of brain injury or neurological illness with a view to...

  • Cognitive neuroscience
    Cognitive neuroscience
    Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the brain...

  • Cognitive psychology
    Cognitive psychology
    Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....

  • Comparative neuropsychology
    Comparative neuropsychology
    Comparative Neuropsychology refers to an approach used for understanding human brain functions. It involves the direct evaluation of clinical neurological populations by employing experimental methods originally developed for use with nonhuman animals....

  • Dialectical behavioral therapy
    Dialectical behavioral therapy
    Dialectical behavior therapy is a system of therapy originally developed by Marsha M. Linehan, a psychology researcher at the University of Washington, to treat people with borderline personality disorder...

  • Music therapy
    Music therapy
    Music therapy is an allied health profession and one of the expressive therapies, consisting of an interpersonal process in which a trained music therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their...

  • Neurocognitive
    Neurocognitive
    Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain substrate layers of neurological matrix at the cellular molecular level...

  • Neurology
    Neurology
    Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...

  • Neuropsychiatry
    Neuropsychiatry
    Neuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system. It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training....

  • Neuropsychological test
    Neuropsychological test
    Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. Tests are used for research into brain function and in a clinical setting for the diagnosis of deficits. They usually involve the...

  • Neurophysiology
    Neurophysiology
    Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function...

  • Neuroscience
    Neuroscience
    Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

  • Nonviolent communication
    Nonviolent communication
    Nonviolent Communication is a communication process developed by Marshall Rosenberg beginning in the 1960s. NVC often functions as a conflict resolution process...

  • Philosophy of mind
    Philosophy of mind
    Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...

  • Psychiatry
    Psychiatry
    Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

  • Psychology
    Psychology
    Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

  • Outline of psychology
  • Rational emotive behavior therapy
    Rational emotive behavior therapy
    Rational emotive behavior therapy , previously called rational therapy and rational emotive therapy, is a comprehensive, active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy which focuses on resolving emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead...

  • Speech language pathology
  • Psychiatric genetics
    Psychiatric genetics
    Psychiatric genetics, a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics, studies the role of genetics in psychological conditions such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. The basic principle behind psychiatric genetics is that genetic polymorphisms, as indicated by linkage to e.g...

  • Important publications in neuropsychology


Further reading

  • Arnold, M.B. (1984). Memory and the Brain. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Attix, D.K. & Welsh-Bohmer, K.A. (2006). Geriatric Neuropsychology. The Guilford Press: New York.
  • Beaumont, J.G.(1983). Introduction to Neuropsychology. Guilford Publications Inc. ISBN 0-89862-515-7
  • Beaumont, J. G., Kenealy, P.M., & Rogers, M.J.C. (1999). The Blackwell Dictionary of Neuropsychology. Malden, Massachusetts,Blackwell Publishers.
  • Broks, P
    Paul Broks
    Paul Broks is an English neuropsychologist and science writer. He is currently Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Plymouth and Honorary Consultant in Neuropsychology...

    . (2003). Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology. London, Atlantic Books. ISBN 0-80214-128-5
  • Bush, S.S. & Martin, T.A. (2005). Geriatric Neuropsychology: Practice Essentials. Taylor & Francis Group: New York.
  • Cabeza, R. & Kingstone, A. (eds.) (2001) Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging and Cognition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
  • Christensen, A-L. (1975) Luria's Neuropsychological Investigation. New York: Spectrum Publications.
  • David, A.S. et al. (eds.) (1997). The Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia: Brain Damage, Behaviour, and Cognition Series, East Sussex,UK, Psychology Press.
  • Hannay, H.J. (1986). Experimental Techniques in Human Neuropsychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Hartlage, L.C. & Telzrow, C.F. (1985) The Neuropsychology of Individual Differences. New York: Plenum Press.
  • Johnstone, B. & Stonnington, H.H. (2009). Rehabilitation of Neuropsychological Disorders, 2nd Edition. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Kertesz, A. (ed.) (1994). Localization and Neuroimaging in Neuropsychology. Academic Press: New York.
  • Kolb, B., & Wishaw, I.Q. (2003). Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology (5th edition). Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-5300-6
  • Levin, H.S., Eisenberg, H.M. & Benton, A.L. (1991) Frontal Lobe Function and Dysfunction. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Lezak, M.D., Howieson, D.B., & Loring, D.W. (2004). Neuropsychological Assessment (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Loring, D.W. (ed.) (1999). INS Dictionary of Neuropsychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Llinas, R (2001) "I of the Vortex". Boston, MIT Press.
  • Luria, A. R. (1970). Traumatic Aphasia: Its Syndromes, Psychology and Treatment. The Hague: Mouton & Co.
  • Luria, A. R. (1973). The Working Brain: An Introduction to Neuropsychology.
  • Luria, A.R. (1976). Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Social Foundations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
  • Luria, A.R. (1979). The Making of Mind: A Personal Account of Soviet Psychology. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
  • Luria, A.R. (1980). Higher Cortical Functions in Man. New York: Basic Books.
  • Luria, A.R. (1982). Language and Cognition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Luria, A.R. (1987). The Mind of a Mnemonist. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
  • Luria, A.R. & Tsvetkova, L.S. (1990) The Neuropsychological Analysis of Problem Solving. Orlando: Paul M. Deutsch Press.
  • McCarthy, R.A. & Warrington, E.K. (1990). Cognitive Neuropsychology: A Clinical Introduction. New York: Academic Press.
  • Mesulam, M-M. (2000). Principles of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Miller, B.L. & Cummings, J.L. (1999) The Human Frontal Lobes. New York: The Guilford Press.
  • Morgan, J.E. & Ricker, J.H. (2008). Textbook of Clinical Neuropsychology. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Rains, G.D. (2002). Principles of Human Neuropsychology. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
  • Stuss, D.T. & Knight, R.T. (eds.) (2002) Principles of Frontal Lobe Function. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Tarter, R.E., Van Thiel, D.H. & Edwards, K.L. (1988) Medical Neuropsychology: The Impact of Disease on Behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
  • Tate, R.L. (2010). A Compendium of Tests, Scales and Questionnaires. Hove: Psychology Press.
  • Tulley, Sean (1993). Fundamentals of Flight Psychology. Enterprise: Bantam Books.
  • Heilbronner, R.L. (2005) Forensic Neuropsychology Casebook. New York, London. The Guilford Press.
  • Groth-Marnat, G. Handbook of Psychological Assessment
  • Goldstein, G. & Nussbaum, P.D. & Beers, S.R. Neuropsychology
  • Strauss, E. & Sherman, E.M.S. & Spreen, O A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests: Administration, Norms, and Commentary

External links

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