Information & explanations, latest texts & monographs on
Neuropsychology (including recent related patents.)
NeuropsychologyNeuropsychology is a branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes. It is strongly scientific in its approach and shares an information processing view of the mind with cognitive psychology and cognitive science. It is one of the most eclectic of the psychological disciplines, overlapping at times with areas such as neuroscience, philosophy (particularly philosophy of mind), neurology, psychiatry and computer science (particularly by making use of artificial neural networks). In practice neuropsychologists tend to work in either academia (involved in pure research), clinical settings (involved in assessing or treating patients with neuropsychological problems), forensic settings (often assessing people for legal reasons or court cases or working with offenders) or industry (often as consultants where neuropsychological knowledge is applied to product design). Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Approaches 2 Methods and Tools 3 Influential Neuropsychologists 4 See also 5 Further Reading Approaches Experimental neuropsychology is an approach which uses methods from experimental psychology to uncover the relationship between the nervous system and cognitive function. The majority of work involves studying healthy humans in a laboratory setting, although a minority of researchers may conduct animal experiments. Human work in this area often takes advantage of specific features of our nervous system (for example that visual information presented to a specific visual field is preferentially processed by the cortical hemisphere on the opposite side) to make links between neuroanatomy and psychological function. Animal work often involves vivisection and is particularly controversial both from the moral angle (see animal rights) and from the scientific angle, with some scientists skeptical of the claims that findings from animal neuropsychology can be extrapolated to humans while others claim such work is essential to understand neural systems and related medical problems. Clinical neuropsychology is the application of neuropsychological knowledge to the assessment (see neuropsychological test), management and rehabilitation of people who have suffered illness or injury (particularly to the brain) which has caused neurocognitive problems. In particular they bring a psychological viewpoint to treatment, to understand how such illness and injury may affect, and be affected by psychological factors. Clinical neuropsychologists typically work in hospital settings in an interdisciplinary medical team, although private practice work is not unknown. Cognitive neuropsychology is a relatively new development and has emerged as a distillation of the complimentary approaches of both experimental and clinical neuropsychology. It seeks to understand the mind and brain by studying people who have suffered brain injury or neurological illness. This is based on the principle that if a specific cognitive problem can be found after an injury to a specific area of the brain, it is likely that this part of the brain is in some way involved. A more recent but related approach is cognitive neuropsychiatry which seeks to understand the normal function of mind and brain by studying psychiatric or mental illness. Connectionism is the use of artificial neural networks to model specific cognitive processes using what are considered to be simplified but plausible models of how neurons operate. Once trained to perform a specific cognitive task these networks are often damaged or 'lesioned' to simulate brain injury or impairment in an attempt to understand and compare the results to the effects of brain injury in humans. Functional neuroimaging uses specific brain imaging technologies to take readings from the brain, usually when a person is doing a particular task, in an attempt to understand how the activation of particular brain areas is related to the task. In practice these approaches are not mutually exclusive and most neuropsychologists select the best approach or approaches for the task to be completed. Methods and Tools
This article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License Mind Wide Open : Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life by Steven Johnson Wider than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness by Gerald M. Edelman Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman MD A General Theory of Love by Fari Amini How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker The Language Instinct : How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker ACHILLES IN VIETNAM : Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character by Jonathan Shay The EMOTIONAL BRAIN: THE MYSTERIOUS UNDERPINNINGS OF EMOTIONAL LIFE by Joseph Ledoux Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine by Candace B. Pert The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach by Christof Koch The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness by Antonio R. Damasio Descartes' Error : Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio R. Damasio The Shyness & Social Anxiety Workbook: Proven Techniques for Overcoming Your Fears by Martin M. Antony EMDR : The Breakthrough Therapy for Overcoming Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma by Francine Shapiro Don't Panic Revised Edition : Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks by R. Reid Wilson Recent Neuropsychology related patents From USPTO: 6702757: Non-invasive brain function examination 6702756: Method and apparatus for diagnosing neurological impairment 6689058: Memory tests using item-specific weighted memory measurements and uses thereof 6678413: System and method for object identification and behavior characterization using video analysis 6670356: Analogs of galanthamine and lycoramine as modulators of nicotinic receptors 6670195: Mutant genes in Familial British Dementia and Familial Danish Dementia 6669481: Neurocognitive assessment apparatus and method 6629846: Method for recording performance in psychological tests 6615085: Apparatus for adjunct (add-on) therapy of Dementia and Alzheimer's disease utilizing an implantable lead and an external stimulator 6579855: Adenovirus-mediated gene therapy 6539263: Feedback mechanism for deep brain stimulation 6518314: Pharmaceutical agents that impede the initiation and progression of primary and secondary DMS disruptions 6509515: Transgenic mice expressing mutant human APP and forming congo red staining plaques 6498143: Method for assisting in differential diagnosis and treatment of autistic syndromes 6455544: Use of cholinesterase inhibitors to treat disorders of attention 6420404: Use of amino-isoxazolidone compounds for improvement of implicit memory 6417177: Chloroquine derivatives for the treatment of Parkinson's disease 6413940: Pharmaceutically active agents that impede the formation of amyloid by impeding the genesis of DMS 6369046: Methods for treating dementia 6364845: Methods for diagnosing visuospatial disorientation or assessing visuospatial orientation capacity 6325475: Devices for presenting airborne materials to the nose 6319206: Temporal thermometer disposable cap 6312376: Apparatus for generating electromagnetic waveforms 6309361: Method for improving memory by identifying and using QEEG parameters correlated to specific cognitive functioning 6306086: Memory tests using item-specific weighted memory measurements and uses thereof 6269270: Apparatus and method for adjunct (add-on) therapy of Dementia and Alzheimer's disease utilizing an implantable lead and external stimulator 6262335: Transgenic mice expressing APP mutant at amino acids 717, 721 and 722 6260022: Modular microprocessor-based diagnostic measurement apparatus and method for psychological conditions 6251942: Compositions and methods for alleviating impaired mental function, memory loss and reducing recovery time in anaesthetized mammals 6208902: Apparatus and method for adjunct (add-on) therapy for pain syndromes utilizing an implantable lead and an external stimulator 6205359: Apparatus and method for adjunct (add-on) therapy of partial complex epilepsy, generalized epilepsy and involuntary movement disorders utilizing an external stimulator 6132724: Allelic polygene diagnosis of reward deficiency syndrome and treatment 6130221: Pharmaceutical agents that impede the initiation and progression of primary and secondary DMS disruptions 6097980: Quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) process and apparatus for assessing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder 6020310: Method for assisting in differential diagnosis and treatment of autistic syndromes 5957859: Method and system for detection of deception using scaled P300 scalp amplitude distribution 5938688: Deep brain stimulation method 5920851: Method for generating a representation of an environment 5904916: Use of odorants to alter learning capacity 5900420: Method for treating chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia with buprenorphine 5890905: Educational and life skills organizer/memory aid 5885608: Lipid soluble forms of thiamine for prevention and treatment of age-related cognitive impairment of the nervous system 5880116: Use of celastrol to treat alzheimer's disease 5879162: Educational organizer 5877399: Transgenic mice expressing APP-Swedish mutation develop progressive neurologic disease 5866585: Methods of treating tardive dyskinesia using NMDA receptor antagonists 5851193: Method and device for the simultaneous analysis of ambulatorily recorded movements of an individual's different body parts 5846207: Method and system for detection of memory deficiency malingering utilizing brain waves 5752922: Test apparatus and program for detection of memory deficiency malingering |