ABSTRACT
Clinical neuropsychology has been an active and growing specialty within psychology. The interface with cultural issues, often seen in other areas of psychology, has occurred only relatively recently. Ardila (1995) stated that within the specialty of clinical neuropsychology, there have been few studies addressing cultural variables, thus our understanding of the influences that cultural differences have on assessment is acutely limited. The development of cross-cultural neuropsychology owes itself to the growth of neuropsychology in general as well as to the concerns of society regarding those individuals who live in the United States who are culturally different (Puente & McCaffrey, 1992). According to Puente and Perez-Garcia (2000), cross-cultural neuropsychology describes the differences in performances
and treatment of individuals in different cultures, expands the concepts of traditional cross-cultural psychology to compare and contrast the issues of how one group, a minority group, compares and contrasts to a larger group (presumably in position of power and control), and factors the role of culture and minority status in understanding brain function and dysfunction. The goal then, is to be able to assess while at the same time limiting potential bias. If we can understand the role of culture, then perhaps we can be closer to understanding the role of brain function. In an example of this attention to cross-cultural psychology, Hall (1997) stated that there has been a major increase in the psychological literature over the past 10 years regarding this issue. If this statement is true, then where is the proof? PsycLit and PsycInfo produce relatively few articles involving the interface between culture and clinical neuropsychology.
