Neuropsychology

Type of psychology: Biological bases of behavior
Fields of study: Behavioral and cognitive models; cognitive processes;
nervous system; organic disorders
Neuropsychology is the study of the relationship between the brain and behavior. It has
provided insights into the workings of the normal brain as well as innovations for diagnosing
and assisting individuals with an injury to or disease of the brain.

Key concepts
• assessment
• cognition
• lesion
• norm
• rehabilitation

Neuropsychology is the study of the relationships between the brain and behavior.
More fully, it is the study of both human and animal cerebral organization
as it relates to behavior. Considerable attention is directed toward investigating
the workings of both healthy and damaged neural systems;
specifically, there is interest in obtaining a more complete understanding of
disorders of language, perception, and motor action. The field of neuropsychology
can be divided into a number of specialty areas. The discussion
which follows will concentrate on experimental neuropsychology and clinical
neuropsychology. While this distinction is not absolute, it serves to classify
the types of work in which neuropsychologists are involved.