Neuropsychological Assessment

What is it ????

NeuropsychologicaI Assessment is an appraisal of the brain's psychological, that is cognitive and behavioural, functions.Neuropsychological assessments are used to assess the level of impairment to particular skills and locate the area of the brain affected by damage after brain injury or a neurological illness. Neuropsychological assessment is the administration of neuropsychological tests to assess cognitive functioning. Aspects of cognitive function that are usually assessed include, intelligence, language, visuo-perception, memory and executive

So how are they done???

Methods of assessment can include Interviews and behavioural observation,Normal psychometric tests e.g. IQ scales, Standardised neuropsychological tests (e.g. Recognition Memory Tests (Warrington, 1986) )and Unstandardised clinical tests. (e.g. Drawing objects from memory in cases of

unilateral neglect.)

How long does neuropsychological assessment take?

Neuropsychological assessments can vary in time On average it can take between 2-4 hours dependent on what the purpose of he assessment is. It can also vary dependent on the patient’s response time and how they cope with the test and also their age.

So what are the Goals of neuropsychological assessment ????

Contributing to Diagnosis

• Major brain damage is now diagnosed by neuroimaging.

• But diffuse or early cortical damage may only be evident

from cognitive dysfunction (e.g. AD, head injury).

Guiding management or rehabilitation.

• Impossible to predict functional problems directly from

brain scans.

• Neuropsychological assessment is crucial in identifying

deficits and spared functions.

Monitoring recovery or deterioration.

• A significant degree of recovery occurs over the months

after non-degenerative damage (head injury, stroke).

•Deterioration in degenerative conditions may be slowed by

medical treatments (e.g. drugs in AD).

•Need for serial neuropsychological assessments.