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Premorbid Intelligence

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

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Synonyms

Estimated premorbid intelligence; Premorbid IQ

Definition

Premorbid intelligence is an estimate of a person’s intellectual functioning prior to known or suspected onset of brain disease or dysfunction. More generally, this term is used to describe a process in neuropsychological evaluations in which an individuals’ level of neuropsychological functioning that existed prior to the onset of known or suspected neurological dysfunction is determined.

Historical Background

Establishing a premorbid level of intellectual functioning is necessary for deficit measurement, which is a central tenet for neuropsychological evaluation. Deficit measurement is the process for determining if a change in functioning has occurred that is greater than would be normally observed or is due to measurement error. This change is typically inferred as a neuropsychological deficit reflecting brain dysfunction. A common premorbid estimate of cognitive function used in deficit measurement is predicted...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, FL, USA

    Mike R. Schoenberg & Patrick Marsh

  2. Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Rael T. Lange

  3. College of Medicine Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Ruba Rum

  4. Florida School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Tampa, FL, USA

    Katie Osborn

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Donald H. Saklofske

Authors
  1. Mike R. Schoenberg
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  2. Rael T. Lange
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  3. Ruba Rum
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  4. Katie Osborn
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  5. Donald H. Saklofske
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  6. Patrick Marsh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mike R. Schoenberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Independent Practice, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Schoenberg, M.R., Lange, R.T., Rum, R., Osborn, K., Saklofske, D.H., Marsh, P. (2018). Premorbid Intelligence. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2140

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