The debt of neuropsychology to the epilepsies.

Both neuropsychology and psychology in general have been enhanced markedly by brain-behavior models derived from the study of the epilepsies. A significant body of neuropsychological concepts originated or were confirmed through epilepsy-based treatment and research. These concepts include the peri-Rolandic homunculus, the role of the hippocampal-temporal lobe complex in cognitive memory, hemisphere plasticity for speech in childhood, the intracarotid amytal procedure for determining hemisphere memory patency, and hemisphere-based models of cognition confirmed through human commissurotomy. Personality and social-emotional research in epilepsy are additional areas in which new conceptual models grounded in psychological science can both repay our debt to the epilepsies and provide much needed psychological research and treatment.     

The neuropsychology of aging

Summary Luria's clinical neuropsychological approach and analysis of frontal lobe syndromes are applied to the study of aging. Brain damage produces both functional deficits and positive signs. The functional deficits seen in association with the aging process resemble those of patients with frontal system pathology. In the present study, performance of normal aging subjects is examined qualitatively for the positive signs associated with damage to frontal structures, namely perseveration and segmentation. Significant positive correlation is found between increasing prevalence of these frontal features and increasing age. Significant sex differences are also found, with males exhibiting more of these frontal features than females.     

The clinical neuropsychology of attention in school-aged children.

100 children from the north-east of England, aged between 7 and 13 years of age, completed an assessment of intellectual ability and an attention battery based on the work of Mirsky, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, & Kellam (1991). Factor analysis was generally supportive of the Mirsky et al. (1991) model. Replication of the adult model produced the same four factors: sustain, encode, focus-execute and shift. Replication of the child model produced a three-factor model in which the encode and focus-execute factors combined. An extended model resulted in the introduction of a new factor labelled errors of processing. The scores on attention factors were found to have a reasonable level of independence from intellectual ability.     

The reinvention of developmental neuropsychology

Geraldine Dawson and Kurt W. Fischer (Eds.) (1994). Human Behavior and the Developing Brain. New York: Guilford Press     

The neuropsychology of paramedian thalamic infarction

A longitudinal study of three patients with CT-scan documented paramedian thalamic infarctions (bilateral, primarily right, unilateral left) is reported and the neuropsychology of human paramedian thalamic infarction is reviewed. The neuropsychological deficits following these selected lesions, the nature of the clinical memory disorder, and the neuroanatomy of memory are discussed. The significance of cortical/subcortical relationship in explaining observed behavioral changes is emphasized. Brain damage with maximum involvement in the dorsomedial nuclei and mamillothalamic tracts appears to cause primarily a memory disorder and frontal-limbic behavioral changes, the severity and profile of deficits depending on lesion extent and location. Both anterograde and remote memory loss may be present. Asymmetry in memory at the level of the thalamus was observed, following the left-verbal, right-nonverbal dichotomy.     

School neuropsychology

There is an increasing interest among school psychologists in the field of neuropsychology as it relates to children in the educational environment. This article attempts to identify those forces which have led to this increased interest as well as to provide a conceptual framework for recognizing this area of specialty within the profession of school psychology. Potential roles related to levels of training and preparation are discussed.     

The neuropsychology of dreams: a clinico-anatomical study

by Mark Solms, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997. $59.95 (292 pages) ISBN 0 8058 1585 6.     

The role of neuropsychology in the assessment and treatment of persons with epilepsy.

Several areas of current interest in the neuropsychology of epilepsy are briefly reviewed in this article. These include variables pertaining to seizures, seizure history, antiepileptic drugs, and methods of neuropsychological evaluation. It is apparent that epilepsy is a multifaceted area: Psychologists not only can be of great assistance to patients with this condition, but may also learn a great deal from this complex disorder.     

Future of neuropsychology]

The future development of neuropsychology as an independent discipline, which has as its principal subject the relationships between the brain as a material substrate and the psychic behavior shown by human beings as well as animals, is discussed on the basis of a schematic presentation of the possible structure of this discipline (general, genetic, clinical and pathological, and applied neuropsychology.     

The structure of anxiety symptoms among preschoolers.

This study examined whether anxiety symptoms in preschoolers reflect subtypes of anxiety consistent with current diagnostic classification systems, or should be better regarded as representing a single dimension. Parents of a large community sample of preschoolers aged 2.5 to 6.5 years rated the frequency with which their children experienced a wide range of anxiety problems. Exploratory factor analysis indicated four or five factors and it was unclear whether separation anxiety and generalized anxiety represented discrete factors. Results of confirmatory factor analyses indicated a superior fit for a five-correlated-factor model, reflecting areas of social phobia, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and fears of physical injury, broadly consistent with DSM-IV diagnostic categories. A high level of covariation was found between factors, which could be explained by a single, higher order model, in which first order factors of anxiety subtypes loaded upon a factor of anxiety in general. No significant differences were found in prevalence of anxiety symptoms across genders. Symptoms of PTSD in this sample were rare.     

The neuropsychology of depression and its implications for cognitive therapy

The past few years have witnessed a growing interest in the specialty of neuropsychology as well as continued support for cognitive therapy of depression. The purpose of this paper is the examination of the neuropsychology of depression and its implications for A. T. Beck's cognitive theory and therapy of depression ([1963] Thinking and Depression: Idiosyncratic Content and Cognitive Distortions,Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 9, pp. 324–333; [1964] Thinking and Depression,Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 10, pp. 561–571; [1967]Depression: Clinical, Experimental, and Theoretical Aspects, New York: Harper & Row). Specifically, the neuropsychological and cognitive theory and therapy literatures related to depression are reviewed followed by an antegration of these areas. Neuropsychological evidence is presented that both supports cognitive theory and therapy of depression and helps explain why such therapy may prove ineffective in treating depression. Implications for clinical practice, including neuropsychological assessment of depressives, and potential future research directions are also provided.     

David Hartley's Newtonian neuropsychology

David Hartley's association psychology has been immensely influential. His vibrationist neurophysiology has, in contrast, been largely overlooked and forgotten. Hartley's vibration theory is examined. On the one hand it is shown how closely it is related to Sir Isaac Newton's mathematical physics and on the other how well it complements the association theory. The vibration theory, indeed, strongly influenced Hartley's associationist psychology and hence is of more than merely antiquarian interest. Although Hartley's understanding of the central nervous system has long been superseded, his general ideas prefigure some aspects of contemporary neurophysiology and philosophy of mind and thus provide a further reason for rescuing his vibrationism from oblivion.     

The neuropsychology of ventral prefrontal cortex: decision-making and reversal learning

Converging evidence from human lesion, animal lesion, and human functional neuroimaging studies implicates overlapping neural circuitry in ventral prefrontal cortex in decision-making and reversal learning. The ascending 5-HT and dopamine neurotransmitter systems have a modulatory role in both processes. There is accumulating evidence that measures of decision-making and reversal learning may be useful as functional markers of ventral prefrontal cortex integrity in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Whilst existing measures of decision-making may have superior sensitivity, reversal learning may offer superior selectivity, particularly within prefrontal cortex. Effective decision-making on existing measures requires the ability to adapt behaviour on the basis of changes in emotional significance, and this may underlie the shared neural circuitry with reversal learning.     

The performance space measurement of regional innovation system based on neuropsychology

In this paper, the performance space measurement of regional innovation system was studied based on neuropsychology. Firstly, the neuropsychology and neural evolution theory were elaborated. Secondly, the genetic algorithm was used to design a regional enterprise performance space measurement model, and this was obtained by connecting the ERP production module and RBF neural network order forecast module. Finally, the algorithm and model constructed in this paper were used to predict the performance of regional foreign trade innovation system. Then, it is concluded that the model constructed in this paper includes the network with the lowest network structure complexity, the smallest training error and the least test error. Therefore, based on this premise, a good neural network that meets the actual needs of users can be obtained, which indicates that the improved method based on evolutionary neural network is effective to measure the performance of regional innovation system.