neuropsychology
Meaning of neuropsychology: A scan shows structure, while neuropsychological testing shows what a person can actually do, and the two often disagree.
Definition of neuropsychology
Neuropsychology is the study of how the brain produces thought, feeling and behavior. It draws on neuroscience and psychology together, mapping functions such as memory, attention, language, planning and emotional control onto the brain systems that support them. Its clinical branch measures those functions directly in order to describe what a brain condition has changed.
How neuropsychology is built
- neur/o Combining form · Greek nerve, nervous system
- psych/o Combining form · Greek mind
- -logy Suffix · Greek study of, body of knowledge
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
What does an assessment involve?
A clinical neuropsychological evaluation is a long session, or several, of structured tasks rather than a conversation or a scan. Each task targets a domain: how quickly information is processed, how much can be held in mind at once, what is learned and later recalled, how words are found and understood, how shapes and space are handled, and how well a person plans, switches between rules and inhibits an unhelpful response. Mood and effort are assessed too, since low mood slows performance and a valid result depends on genuine engagement. Scores are compared against results from people of similar age and educational background, so a decline can be detected even in someone whose absolute performance is still above average.
What can it show that imaging cannot?
| Brain imaging | Neuropsychological testing | |
|---|---|---|
| Shows | Structure, and in some forms activity | Function, as performance on defined tasks |
| Answers | What does the brain look like | What can this person do |
| Sensitive to | Visible lesions and volume change | Change in ability, including where a scan looks normal |
The two answer different questions and are read together. A scan of the nervous system may look unremarkable after a head injury while testing shows a clear slowing of processing speed; equally, a visible lesion may cause far less disruption than its size suggests.
When is it used?
Common reasons include describing the effects of a stroke or a traumatic brain injury, separating cognitive change caused by depression, medication or sleep disruption from change caused by a progressive condition, mapping function before and after epilepsy surgery, and following the cognitive effects of treatment for a brain tumor. The results are used to describe strengths as well as losses, which is what makes them practical for planning rehabilitation, education or a return to work rather than for diagnosis alone.
Used in a sentence
Neuropsychological testing was performed to characterize the cognitive changes following the head injury.
Good to know
Neuropsychological testing measures the functional effect of a brain condition on thinking and behavior, information distinct from what imaging shows about structure, and the two can diverge in either direction.
Word origin
Where “neuropsychology” comes from
Formed from neuro-, Greek for nerve, psyche, meaning mind, and -logy, from logos, meaning study.