1. Clinical Neuropsychology
Glenn Smith PhD ABPP(CN)
2013

2. What is Clinical Neuropsychology?
Neuropsychology: The study of the relationship between brain function and behavior.
Clinical Neuropsychology: The use of specialized techniques used to assess and treat behavioral abnormalities associated with brain dysfunction.

3. Clinical neurosychologists work with adults and children with many types brain conditions:
Brain tumors
Dementias like Alzheimer’s disease
Developmental disorders like autism
Epilepsy
Movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease
Multiple sclerosis
Stroke
Traumatic brain injury

4. A large tumor in the covering of the brain is pressing on the front region of the brain producing changes in thinking and behavior

5. History
Aristotle thought the heart was responsible for thinking. Hippo-crates realized it was the brain.
Descartes thought the pineal gland at the base of the brain was the seat of the soul.
The late 1700s phrenologists thought they could determine your mental skills and personality by the size and shape of your head
In Europe in the 1800s, physicians like Broca, and Wernicke, were realizing different brain regions controlled different skills like understanding speech versus creating speech
In the US, in 1930s and 40s, before the advent of CT scans Ward Halstead used behavioral techniques to help predict where neurosurgeons would find brain tumors
In Russia, A.R. Luria studied the behaviors of WWII veterans that survived bullet wounds to the brain. His book Higher Cortical Function in Man is a classic
Neuroimaging techniques like MRI and PET have revolutionized neuropsychology research and practice

6. Clinical Neuropsychologists examine:
Cognition (thinking skills)
Intelligence
Academic Skill
Language
Visual Spatial
Attention
Memory
Executive Functions
Noncognitive issues
Alertness
Comportment/Demeanor
Speech
Mood
Personality
Effort/Motivation
Frustration Tolerance

7. Scores of a patient with Alzheimer’s Disease over 9 years
Scores of a patient with Alzheimer’s Disease over 9 years. Note how memory scores are low in the beginning and over time scores all other areas except reading decline.

8. Example of Naming test: What do you call these?

9. Example of Perceptual Organization: Find the figure in white within the yellow figure.

10. Example of Visual Perception

11. Example of Visual Perception

12. Example of Visual Perception

13. Goals of the Clinical Neuropsychologist
Help detect brain dysfunction.
Help identify the type of brain disease.
Help understand the likely impact brain disease in daily life.
Help identify the likely future course of brain disease
Help plan patient care.
Help deliver care to patients and their families.
Conduct the research that provides the basis for all of the above.

14. Resource Links Society for Clinical Neuropsychology: http://www. div40
Resource Links Society for Clinical Neuropsychology: Association of Neuropsychology Students in training: