Chapter 14

• The branch of medicine that focuses on the nervous system and its disorder.

  Neurology
• The branch of psychology that focuses on the relationship between brain functioning and behavior.

  Neuropsychology
• May be defined as the evaluation of brain and nervous system functioning as it related to behavior.


  Neuropsychological assessment
• A subspecialty within the medical specialty of neurology that also focuses on brain-behavior relationships.

  Behavior neurology
• A branch of medicine that focuses on problems related to hearing, balance, and facial nerves.


  Neurotology
• May take the form of a lesion in the brain or any other site within the central or peripheral nervous system.

  Neurological damage
• A pathological alteration of tissue such as that which could result from injury or infection.

  Lesion
• Neurological lesions may be physical or chemical in nature and they are characterized as:


  Focal (relatively circumscribed at one site)

  Diffuse (scattered at various sites)
• A general reference to any physical or functional impairment in the central nervous system that results in sensory, motor, cognitive, emotional, or related deficit.

  Brain damage
• Deficit in recognizing stimuli

  Agnosia
• Inability to read


  Alexia
• Loss of memory


  Amnesia
• Deficit in sense of smell

  Anosmia
• May be defined as an indicator of definite neurological deficit.

  Hard sign
• An indicator that is merely suggestive of neurological deficit.


  Soft sign
• Deficit that is psychological or without a known physical or structural.

  Functional deficit
• A deficit known to have a structural or physical origin


  Organic deficit
• Objective of neuropsychological evaluation is:


  To draw inferences about the structural and functional characteristics of a person's brain by evaluating an individual's behavior in defined stimulus-response situations.
• Condition that presents as if it were dementia but is not.

  Pseudodementia
• Procedures that do not involve any intrusion int the examinee's body.


  Noninvasive procedures
• These are involuntary motor responses to stimuli.

  Reflexes
• Sample tests used to evaluate muscle coordination:


  Walking-running-skipping

  Standing still

  Nose-finger-nose

  Finger wiggie
• Sample tests used by neurologists to assess the intactness of some of the 12 cranial nerves:


  I (olfactory nerve)

  II (optic nerve)

  V (trigeminal nerve)

  VIII (acoustic nerve)
• Characterized primarily by disorders of movement such as tremors, rigidity, slowness, and problems with balance and coordination.

  Parkinson's Disease
• From the latin "black substance" because the region appears black under a microscope.


  Substantia nigra
• A chemical facilitator of communication between neurons.


  Neurotransmitter
• Condition characterized by an acting out of dreams with vocalizations or gestures.

  Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder
• A neurosurgical treatment for use with patients who have advanced PD.


  Deep brain stimulation
• Clusters of stuck together proteins that have the effect of depleting available dopamine and other brain substances critical for functioning.

  Lewy bodies
• Results from the formation of a number of lewy bodies in the bran stem and cerebral cortex that cause Parkinsonian like symptoms, alzheimer like symptoms, and other symptoms of dementia.

  Lewy body dementia
• Defined as organizing, planning, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition of impulses and related activities associated with the frontal and prefrontal lobes of the brain.

  Executive function
• A test used to quickly screen for certain executive functions.

  Clock drawing test (CDT)
• Shown a sample or target stimulus. Test taker must scan a field various stimuli to match the sample

  Field of search item
• Naming each stimulus presented.

  Confrontation naming
• The task here is to identify what is wrong or silly about the picture.

  Picture absurdity item
• A general reference to any of many instruments and procedures used to evaluate varied aspects of sensory functioning, including aspects of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and balance.

  Perceptual test
• Procedures used to evaluate varied aspects one's ability and mobility including the ability to move limbs, eyes, or other parts of the body.

  Motor test
• Any of many instruments and procedures used to evaluate the integration or coordination of perceptual and motor abilities.

  Perceptual motor test
• Refers to a loss of ability to express oneself or to understand spoken or written language because of some neurological deficit.

  Aphasia
• Condition in which the ability to eat is lost or diminished.

  Aphagia