What Does a Clinical Neuropsychologist Do?

Clinical neuropsychology is a branch of applied psychology. Focus on the relationship between brain injury and behavior. Clinical diagnosis and treatment and psychological testing techniques such as intelligence tests, memory tests, and various single or complete neuropsychological testing methods are commonly used to evaluate patients with brain injury, to assist in the diagnosis of brain injury, or what psychological dysfunction after brain injury. Understand the location and extent of brain function impairment and its relationship with behavior; guide treatment, assess efficacy and guide rehabilitation training programs. ^[1]

Clinical neuropsychology

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Clinical neuropsychology is a branch of applied psychology. Focus on the relationship between brain injury and behavior. Clinical diagnosis and treatment and psychological testing techniques such as intelligence tests, memory tests, and various single or complete neuropsychological testing methods are commonly used to evaluate patients with brain injury, to assist in the diagnosis of brain injury, or what psychological dysfunction after brain injury. Understand the location and extent of brain function impairment and its relationship with behavior; guide treatment, assess efficacy and guide rehabilitation training programs. ^[1]

The establishment of split-brain technology allows people to study the separate functions of the left and right hemispheres. In the past, the left hemisphere was the dominant dominant hemisphere; the right hemisphere was a subordinate inferior hemisphere, which had limited functions and was only the speech center of a few left-handed people, and only in children and some adults. Only after the left hemisphere was injured did it assume the function of speech. Through research on split-brainers, it is found that the right hemisphere is involved in many important functions, such as spatial orientation and perception, and perception, memory, and thinking of non-verbal materials such as images, pictures, colors, and musical melodies. The right hemisphere's ability to interpret sounds and music, the ability to discern human figures and paintings, the ability to recognize space, the ability to understand specific thinking, and the understanding of complex relationships are all superior to the left hemisphere. Therefore, the dominant hemisphere is only relative. The so-called advantage means that the asymmetry of the function of the two hemispheres of the brain is manifested in the highly specialized function.

Clinical neuropsychological research provides valuable information for exploring some major theoretical issues such as brain and consciousness. The generation of any psychological phenomenon and the progress of the psychological process must be based on the state of consciousness, that is, a certain level of awakening. In the past, when talking about the level of arousal, the first thing that came to mind was the function of the non-specific transmission system (the reticular activation system). According to the latest research in clinical neuropsychology, complex procedural activities caused by a certain purpose or plan are highly selective and must have a high level of awakening to complete this conscious behavior. The impulse from the reticular structure is difficult to maintain sufficient excitability in the cortex; the neural structures that maintain and regulate cortical arousal levels are the frontal lobe. Experiments have shown that through the connection between the medial part of the frontal lobe and the reticular structure, a strong intention makes the upward activation system mobilize further, thereby improving the activity level of the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe adjusts the arousal level of the entire cerebral cortex differently from the reticular structure, which is achieved through speech signals. Some people use the internal carotid artery to inject isoprene barbiturate to conduct experiments, and found that injection into the left verbal dominant hemisphere loses consciousness and lasts longer; while injection into the right non-verbal dominant hemisphere causes less changes. In the past, it was generally believed that local cerebral hemisphere damage on one side did not cause disturbance of consciousness. The relationship between acute cerebrovascular accident injury and consciousness has been studied. Among them, 24 cases were pure right hemisphere injury and 23 cases were pure left hemisphere injury. The clinical and pathological conditions of the two groups were roughly equal. The study found that 57% of patients with left hemisphere injury were conscious and severe, and only 25% of patients with right hemisphere injury were conscious. No one was comatose or hemicoma. This shows that the left hemisphere has a certain relationship with the regulation of consciousness. The contribution of neuropsychological test methods in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with brain injury has been generally acknowledged by clinical neurologists, and it is expected that it will be widely used in various disciplines of clinical medicine soon as One of the important diagnostic tools for various diseases; and if it can be combined with advanced testing technologies such as positron flash brain scan (PET), it is possible to dynamically observe the advanced psychological functions of patients with brain damage and normal people, such as language, memory, thinking The relationship between activities such as consciousness and brain structure and function.