Aspects of Neuropsychological Assessment in Patients with Cerebral Disease

Abstract

Psychological impairment associated with brain disease takes a great variety of forms, depending primarily on the locus, extent, and nature of the cerebral lesion and secondarily on premorbid characteristics of the patient, e.g., his intellectual level, his personality, and his hemispheric cerebral organization as reflected (imperfectly) in his lateral preference. Assessment of the various forms of behavioral impairment associated with brain disease has a two-fold interest. First, it is of theoretical interest in that it provides data from which inferences about cerebral organization and the functional properties of the different areas of the brain can be made. Secondly, from a practical standpoint, it provides a relatively accurate and unbiased estimate of various aspects of a patient’s behavioral capacity which can aid diagnosis and management in various ways, e.g., in making a judgment about the presence of cerebral disease in the doubtful case, in furnishing a baseline against which future changes in status can be measured, as a guide in rehabilitation, and in providing evidence for focal cerebral disease in the form of specific cognitive, perceptual, or psychomotor deficits.