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Methods Patients Cognitive Neuropsychology With this type of neuropsychology method, one measures the cognitive functions of patients with focal brain injury (i.e., damage resulting from stroke or tumor) as a means to understand the functions of normal brains. It is one of the oldest methods in cognitive neuroscience. It can also use patients with disease processes affecting a relatively isolated neural system (i.e., Parkinsons disease). This method requires the following assumption: that the brain is organized as a network of modular components such that one component can be selectively damaged while basically sparing the functions the non-damaged ones. If this assumption is met, the spared and impaired abilities of a person with focal brain damage can be used to understand the functions of that region or prior to the damage. Specifically, we can infer that the cognitive abilities that are now impaired depend on normal operation of the damaged area, whereas the spared abilities do not depend on this region. Results from patient studies of this type also can be used effectively in combination with neuroimaging (ERP, PET, fMRI) in normals to determine what brain areas are truly critical for a particular cognitive function. Clinical Neuropsychology The emphasis of this type of neuropsychology method is on understanding the cognitive effects of a particular neural disorder, rather than using the cognitive performance of these individuals to make inferences about normal brain function. This approach is often used to study common disorders where the damage is likely to be highly diffuse (i.e., traumatic brain injury) and/or degenerative (i.e., Alzheimerís disease). Our understanding of the spared and impaired abilities of these patients can help us to design rehabilitative strategies that maximize recovery or mitigate further decline. Related Links:
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