ABSTRACT
The assessment of visuo-perceptual dysfunction is one of the more difficult areas of investigation for the practising clinical neuropsychologist. The problem for the practising neuropsychologist is that without a clear and unifying conceptual structure it is hard to organise a rational assessment approach. The assessment of basic visual processes is probably the most technically difficult of all areas of neuropsychological assessment, and it is rarely performed adequately by clinical neuropsychologists. The basic assessment of colour perception is known to most students of psychology. It is usually assessed by tests that require the mental construction of shapes from coloured spots that are equally bright. The patient with visual agnosia fails to respond appropriately to visually presented material even though visual sensory processing, language, and general intelligence are sufficiently normal not to account for the patient's poor recognition. As the ultimate goal of any neuropsychological assessment is an accurate description of the patient's psychological state.
