neuropsychological assessment

n. Cognitive evaluation approached from a clinical neuropsychology perspective. It includes the assessment of different cognitive areas such as attention, memory, language, visual-perceptual processing, constructive skills, praxis abilities, spatial abilities, and executive functions. Usually, neuropsychological assessment has one or several of the following purposes: (1) to pinpoint a patient's cognition frequently but not necessarily after an abnormal brain condition, in order to describe the pattern of impairments that may have occurred, that is, to pinpoint his/her current cognitive status; (2) to analyze current symptoms and signs, in order to identify fundamental syndromes; (3) to suggest potential underlying pathological processes; (4) to suggest rehabilitative and compensatory strategies; (5) to provide additional information for a differential diagnosis. Neuropsychological assessment instruments include test batteries, aimed to evaluate different cognitive domains (Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery) or different abilities in a particular domain (e.g., different linguistic abilities, such as verbal fluency, language understanding, language repetition, naming, e.g., Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination) and tests targeting a specific ability (e.g., Wisconsin Card Sorting). – AA