Abstract
While there are philosophical and theoretical differences between neuropsychologists and behavior therapists, it is suggested that a significant reconciliation can be achieved in regard to assessment and treatment of the brain-damaged patient. While brain damage is often viewed as an irreversible disorder, there is evidence that substantial recovery of function can occur, particularly when adequate retraining is provided. There are practical and empirical considerations that suggest that neuropsychological tests are currently the best tools available for behavioral assessment of brain-damaged patients. However, the results of these tests can be used not only diagnostically but also to identify target behavioral deficits that may be rehabilitated through systematic retraining efforts. Such rehabilitation efforts can be optimally planned, implemented, and evaluated through an alliance between the neuropsychologist, who identifies the ability and deficit pattern, and the behavior therapist, who devises and evaluates the retraining program. It is possible that the successes of behavior therapy in numerous clinical and educational applications can be repeated in the cases of brain-damaged patients. However, such success would appear to be contingent on appreciation of the high degree of specificity often seen in neurological deficit patterns and the great complexities involved in the relationships between brain function and behavior.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck, S. J.Rorschach's test. Vol. I:Basic processes. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1944.
Bellack, A. S., & Hersen, M. Assessment and single-case research. In M. Hersen & A. S. Bellack (Eds.),Behavior therapy in the psychiatric setting. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1978.
Bender, L. A visual motor gestalt test and its clinical use.Research Monographs of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, 1938,3.
Ben-Yishay, Y., Diller, L., Gerstman, L., & Gordon, W. Relationship between initial competence and ability to profit from cues in brain damaged individuals.Journal Abnormal Psychology 1970,75 248–259. (a)
Ben-Yishay, Y., Diller, L., & Mandleberg, I. The ability to profit from cues as a function of initial competence in normal and brain-injured adults: A replication of previous findings.Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1970,76 378–379. (b)
Ben-Yishay, Y., Diller, L., Mandleberg, I., Gordon, W., & Gerstman, L. J. Similarities and differences in block design performance between older normal and brain-injured persons.Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1971,78 17–25.
Ben-Yishay, Y., Gerstman, L., Diller, L., & Haas, A. Prediction of rehabilitation outcomes from psychometric parameters in left hemiplegics.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1970,34 436–441.
Boring, E. G. The use of operational definitions in science.Psychological Review 1945,52 243–245.
Broca, P. (New observation of aphemia produced by a lesion of the posterior half of the second and third frontal convolutions.)Société Anatomique de Paris 1861,36 398–407.
Butters, N., & Cermak, L. S. Neuropsychological studies of alcoholic Korsakoff patients. In G. Goldstein & C. Neuringer (Eds.),Empirical Studies of Alcoholism. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 1976.
Christensen, A. L.Luria's neuropsychological investigation. New York: Spectrum, 1975. (a)
Christensen, A. L.Luria's neuropsychological investigation: Manual. New York: Spectrum, 1975. (b)
Christensen, A. L.Luria's neuropsychological investigation: Test cards. New York: Spectrum, 1975. (c)
Diller, L. A model for cognitive retraining in rehabilitation.The Clinical Psychologist 1976,29 13–15.
Diller, L., Buxbaum, J., & Chiotelis, S. Relearning motor skills in hemiplegia: Error analysis.Genetic Psychology Monographs 1972,85 249–286.
Dollard, J., & Miller, N. E.Personality and psychotherapy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950.
Golden, C. J.Diagnosis and rehabilitation in clinical neuropsychology. Springfield, Ill.: C. C Thomas, 1978.
Golden, C. J., Hammeke, T. A., & Purisch, A. D. Diagnostic validity of a standardized neuropsychological battery derived from Luria's neuropsychological tests.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1978,46 1258–1265.
Goldstein, K.The organism. New York: American Book Co., 1939.
Halstead, W. C.Brain and intelligence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1947.
Hebb, D. O. Drives and the C. N. S. (conceptual nervous system).Psychological Review 1955,62 243–254.
Hebb, D. O. Alice in Wonderland or psychology among the biological sciences. In H. F. Harlow & C. N. Woolsey (Eds.),Biological and biochemical bases of behavior. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958.
Hefferline, R. F. Learning theory and clinical psychology — an eventual symbiosis. In A. J. Bachrach (Ed.),Experimental foundations of clinical psychology. New York: Basic Books, 1962.
Hersen, M. Token economies in institutional settings. Historical, political, deprivation, ethical and generalization issues.The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 1976,162 206–211.
Klove, H. Validation studies in adult clinical neuropsychology. In R. M. Reitan & L. H. Davison (Eds.),Clinical neuropsychology: Current status and applications. New York: Winston-Wiley, 1974.
Koch, S. Clark L. Hull. In W. K. Estes, S. Koch, K. MacCorquodale, P. E. Meehl, C. G. Mueller, W. N. Schoenfeld, and W. S. Verplanck,Modern learning theory. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1954.
Lashley, K. S. Integrative functions of the cerebral cortex.Physiological Review 1933,13 1–42.
Luria, A. R.Restoration of function after brain injury. New York: Macmillan, 1963 (original in Russian published in 1948).
Luria, A. R.The working brain. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Luria, A. R., & Majovski, L. C. Basic approaches used in American and Soviet clinical neuropsychology.American Psychologist 1977,32 959–968.
MacCorquodale, K., & Meehl, P. E. On a distion between hypothetical constructs and intervening variables.Psychoogical Review 1948,55 95–107.
Meier, M. J. Some challenges for clinical neuropsychology. In R. M. Reitan & L. A. Davison (Eds.),Clinical neuropsychology: Current status and applications. New York: Wiley, 1974.
Milner, B. Amnesia following operation on the temporal lobes. In C. W. M. Witty & O. L. Zangwill (Eds.),Amnesia. Woburn, Mass.: Butterworth, 1966.
Milner, B., & Teuber, H.-L. Alteration of perception and memory in man: Reflections on methods. In L. Weiskrantz (Ed.),Analysis of behavior change. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Parsons, O. A. & Prigatano, G. P. Methodological considerations in clinical neuropsychological research.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1978,46 608–619.
Piotrowski, Z. Personality studies of cases with lesions of the frontal lobes: II. Rorschach study of a Pick's Disease case.Rorschach Research Exchange 1936–1937,1 65–77.
Pribram, K. H.Languages of the brain: Experimental paradoxes and principles in neuropsychology Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
Pribram, K. H. Holographic memory.Psychology Today 1979,12 71–84.
Reitan, R. M. Validity of the Rorschach Test as measure of psychological effects of brain damage.AMA Archives of Neurology and Psychology 1955,73 445–451.
Russell, A., Neuringer, C., & Goldstein, G.Assessment of brain damage: A neuropsychological key approach. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1970.
Skinner, B. F. Are theories of learning necessary?Psychological Bulletin 1950,57 193–216.
Skinner, B. F.Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan, 1953.
Stein, D., Rosen, J., & Butters, N. (Eds.)Plasticity and recovery of function in the central nervous system. New York: Academic Press, 1974.
Teuber, H.-L. Some alterations in behavior after cerebral lesions in man.Evolution of nervous control. Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1959.
Wickelgren, W. A. Chunking and consolidation: A theoretical synthesis of semantic networks, configuring in conditioning, S-R versus cognitive learning, normal forgetting, the amnesic syndrome, and the hippocampal arousal system.Psychological Review 1979,86 44–60.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goldstein, G. Methodological and theoretical issues in neuropsychological assessment. Journal of Behavioral Assessment 1, 23–41 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01322416
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01322416