neuropsychology, the assumptions in

Neuropsychology essays.

WHAT ARE THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY?

Cognitive Neuropsychology (CN) studies and uses the relationship between normal and abnormal cognitive functioning to attain the following goals.

1. Using models of normal functioning to understanding impaired functioning.
2. Using knowledge of impaired and preserved cognitive abilities of brain-damaged patients to improve models of normal functioning.

In order to address the underlying assumptions in CN there is a need to explain why the assumptions are necessary. Despite many years of research in both clinical and cognitive neuropsychology there is no definitive unambiguous model of actual (normal) cognitive processes. Assumptions are therefore required to isolate functions, record and measure them and then to assess the impacts of impairment to those processes. The assumptions are therefore an aid to the process of applying normal and impaired systems to refine the normal models....