Neuropsychology

Psychology Degree Guide: Neuropsychology

A neuropsychologist studies the relationship between the brain and human cognitive, behavioral and emotional functions and processes under normal circumstances and in people who have neurological/cognitive disorders. Standardized tests have been developed in order to compare standardized data and turn it into normative data. With normative data, a neuropsychologist can study and identify deviations from the ‘typical’ human’s neurological functioning. These tests include:

The tests above can provide important information about a patient’s intellectual functioning, language processing, visuospatial processing, attention and concentration, visual and verbal learning and memory, executive functioning, speed of processing and sensory perceptions, among other things. The data from these tests, when compared to the normative data, can help a neuropsychologist to diagnose and recommend effective treatment options for cognitive impairments. One of the things highlighted by these tests is the presence of traumatic brain injury.

Cognitive Neuropsychology

A relatively new sub-field, cognitive neuropsychology is a combination of research-based experimentation and clinical neuropsychology which focuses in on the effects of injuries to the brain and neurological illnesses. The brain regulates every aspect of human behavior, and even slight trauma to the brain can have noticeable and lasting effects. When neurons in the brain are damaged, they lose the ability to process electrochemical messages, leaving the brain working at partial efficiency in whatever region received damage. Results of traumatic brain injury vary widely and can include degradation of cognitive and motor skills, unreliable memory, distraction and inattention, becoming disinhibited or child-like in ways. There can also be varying degrees of anosognosia (a state of being unaware of one’s own illness or change in behavior, more common in right-hemisphere injuries) which can make treating patients very challenging. On the other side of the coin, patients do often recognize that their mental processing is slower or incomplete and this can cause sharp declines in self-esteem and the feeling of self-worth as well as frustration, irritability, and feeling discouraged. These often lead to societal and emotional behaviors that can harm the treatment or readjustment process. Below is an abridged list of the functions of each major area of the brain, and some of the consequences of damage to the region.

The Brain

The Frontal Lobes, located just under the forehead, are responsible for awareness of self and environment, emotional responses and stability, executive functioning, personality, word associations and meaning, memory for motor habits and language usage. Trauma in these areas can lead to:
Difficulty sequencing and carrying out complex tasks that require a number of steps
Loss of spontaneity in interactions
Mental rigidity
Distractability
Mood swings
Impaired problem-solving abilities
Broca’s Aphasia (difficulty retrieving words from the mental lexicon)

The Parietal Lobes, located at the back of the top of the head, are involved in visual perception, tactile perception, object manipulation, goal-oriented voluntary movement, the integration of sensory information that allows for a whole concept of an object. With damage to these lobes, people experience:
Anomia (difficulty naming things)
Agraphia (difficulty writing)
Discalculia (difficulty performing mathematical calculations)
Poor visual perception
Difficulty drawing
Impaired hand-eye coordination

The Temporal Lobes, located on the sides of the head, help with auditory perception, some aspects of visual perception, long-term memory, object categorization and intellect. Trauma to these regions can cause:
Wernicke’s Aphasia (difficulty understanding spoken words)
Short-term memory loss
Changes in sexual behavior
Seizure disorders, auras and strange reveries
Inability to characterize objects
Religiosity
Persistent talking (with damage to right lobe only)
Difficulty locating objects in the environment
Aggressive behavior

The Occipital Lobes, at the very back of the head, near the bottom, govern vision and visual perception. Injuries to these lobes can result in:
Color Agnosia (difficulty perceiving color)
Movement Agnosia (difficulty perceiving movement)
Hallucinations
Visual Illusions
Word blindness (the inability to recognize words visually)
Inability to recognize drawn objects
Loss of reading and writing skills

Treatment: Does Brain Injury Have to be Permanent?

There are those who would still argue that, yes, it is; but micro-technology and the increased ability to pinpoint and work with tiny pieces of the brain may be changing that answer. The still-controversial method of cognitive repair targets specific damaged nerves and reinnervates them, by way of nerve grating. Reinnervation can occur spontaneously as well, an example of the body healing itself, but when traumas appear to be permanent, the ability to manually reinnervate specific links in the brain can help restore cognitive function. In testing these repairs, there has, so far, been a high rate of success in seeing the new repairs interact with the network of other undamaged neurons in the area and restore their functions, like spatial orientation and synchronized movement. So, while there are those that recover from brain injuries on their own, there may soon be a way to treat those whose effects would otherwise be permanent.

Prescription drugs are very common in the treatment of brain injuries, and very controversial. There are a variety of different drugs used for different issues that a patient might be having or might be at risk of, like seizures, migraines, anxiety, depression, aggression, pain, muscle spasms, memory problems, etc. All of these drugs have side effects, some of which can be lasting, such as liver damage.

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