Knowra Neuropsychology Neuropsychology Neuropsychology studies how brain structure and function relate to cognition, emotion, and behavior, using evidence from healthy people and people with brain disorders.
Cognitive neuroscience : The study of the neural processes underlying cognition, including perception, memory, language, and decision-making. It investigates neural mechanisms behind the cognitive abilities neuropsychology measures.
Neuropsychological assessment : The systematic evaluation of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning using tests, interviews, and other evidence. It is the principal method for characterizing strengths and impairments in clinical practice.
Paul Broca : A French physician whose study of a patient with severe speech impairment linked language production to the left frontal lobe. His lesion evidence helped establish links between localized brain damage and specific abilities.
Neurology : The medical specialty concerned with diagnosing and treating disorders of the nervous system. Neurology emphasizes nervous-system disease, while neuropsychology focuses on its cognitive and behavioral consequences.
Reverse inference : The inference that a mental process occurred because a brain region associated with it showed activity. Neuropsychological interpretations can overstate what a regional association reveals about a specific mental process.
Functional specialization : The tendency for particular brain regions or networks to contribute disproportionately to specific functions. Neuropsychological dissociations can reveal which functions depend on distinct neural systems.
Neuropsychological testing : The use of standardized tasks to measure abilities such as memory, attention, language, and executive function. Test scores provide structured evidence about the abilities affected by brain conditions.
Carl Wernicke : A German neurologist who associated damage to the left posterior temporal region with impaired language comprehension. His work showed that different language impairments could follow damage to different regions.
Psychiatry : The medical specialty concerned with diagnosing and treating mental disorders. Psychiatry centers on mental disorders; neuropsychology examines their relation to brain function and measured abilities.
Double dissociation : A pattern in which damage to one region disrupts one function but spares another, while different damage produces the reverse pattern. It can support functional distinctions, though it does not prove that processes operate independently.
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