PSYC31H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Noxious Stimulus
Document Summary
Examiner take into account patient variables when evaluating test performance: sensory and motor status, alertness cycles, medication regimen, etc. Motivation to reach a goal is also important. Appreciate patient"s current medical and neurological status can help guide examiner"s search for pattern of np deficits. Naturalistic observations useful info about how patient functions outside structured examination setting. Value of naturalistic observations may be most evident when examination findings alone lead to conclusions that patients are more or less capable than they actually are occur when examiner confounds observed performance with ability. Testing: differs from other forms of psychological data gathering elicits behavior samples in standardized, replicable and more or less artificial and restrictive situation. Strengths: sameness of test situation for each subject, sameness enables examiner to compare behavior samples btw individuals, over time. Weakness: limited to behaviors occasioned by test situation may lack ecological validity, predictive validity.
