1 - Introductory Scientific History to Neuropsychological Assessment

Abstract

This chapter provides an introductory, but brief, history of the development of scientific assessment batteries in neuropsychology. About 30 years ago, neuropsychology was on the edge of discovering a new formal assessment methodology. This was a computerized assessment scoring and basic interpretation program. This could have been integrated with computer technology. Since the 1980s, with the exception of some relatively unrecognized work by a few neuropsychologists, the field has been dominated by the clinical or flexible method that uses flexible batteries and clinical judgment as the basis for assessment. In the last few years, a new neuropsychological assessment method made its appearance. This is the computerized neuropsychological testing program. The program that appears to be the most challenging to traditional clinical neuropsychology assessment is the MindStreams program. This program is designed for medical practice and requires no neuropsychologist. The results of the program include measures of the amount of impairment for various major cognitive domains. These results are delivered to the physician in a printout “immediately” after the patient is tested. The printout is designed so that a doctor, such as a neurologist, can quickly issue a report on the cognitive status of the individual.