1- Speech Sounds Perception Test. Participants listen to a series of nonsense words, each
comprising two consonants with a long “e” sound in the middle. They then select the
“word” they heard from a set of alternatives.
a. This test measures left-hemisphere function, especially temporal and parietal
areas.
Extensive research has demonstrated that the battery is valid for detecting brain damage resulting
from a variety of conditions, such as tumours, stroke, and head injury.
This battery of tests can help the clinician discriminate, for example, between dementia due to
depression and dementia due to a degenerative brain disease.
The Luria-Nebraska battery: A battery of 269 items making up 11 sections to determine basic and
complex motor skills; rhythm and pitch abilities; tactile and kinaesthetic skills, verbal and spatial skills...
The pattern of scores on these sections, as well as on the 32 items found to be the most
discriminating and indicative of overall impairment, helps reveal damage to the frontal,
temporal, sensorimotor or parietal-occipital area of the right or left hemisphere.
Criterion validity has been established by findings such as a correct classification rate of over
86%.
Also believed to pick up effects of brain damage that are not (yet) detectable by neurological
examination in the cognitive domain.
A particular advantage; one can control for educational level so that a less-educated person will
not receive a lower score.
Canadian research in human neuropsychology has a long legacy of eminent contributions.
In the late 1980s, Canada allocated significant funding for a comprehensive, longitudinal study
of the effects of dementia on Canadian Society. (Over 10 000 participants) Is referred to as the
Canadian study of Health and Aging (CSHA).
o CSHA is the largest epidemiological study of dementia to include a formal
neuropsychological assessment.
At the University of Toronto, K.Zakzanis and colleagues put together a compendium of
neuropsychological profiles in which test sensitivities were compiled for several dementia and
neuropsychiatric disorders.
o The profiles were designed to help physicians and researchers select neuropsychological
tests on the basis of sensitivities of the tests to specific syndromes (as opposed to on
the basis of clinical lore, availability...)
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT:
Psychophysiology: concerned with the bodily chances that accompany psychological events such as
heart rate, tension in the muscles, blood flow, brain waves...
The assessments discussed here are not enough to make diagnosis, just provide information.
The activities of the ANS are frequently assessed in an attempt to understand the nature of emotion.
An important measure is heart rate
electrocardiogram: a recording of the electrical activity of the heart made with an electrocardiograph.
Electrodermal responding: skin conductance.
Anxiety, fear, anger and other emotions increase activity in the Sympathetic NS which then boosts
sweat-gland activity, which increased the electrical conductance of the skin.
Conductance is typically measured by determining the current that flows through the skin when a
known small voltage derived from an external source is passed between two electrodes on the hand.
This current shows a pronounced increase after activation of the sweat glands. Brain activity can be measured by an electroencephalogram, or EEG. Electrodes placed on the scalp
record electrical activity in the underlying brain area.
Abnormal patterns of electrical activity can indicate epilepsy or help in locating brain lesions or
tumours.
A CAUTIONARY NOTE:
many of the measurements do not differentiate clearly among emotional states. Skin conductance eg
increases not only with anxiety but also wi
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