ABSTRACT
In neuropsychology, cognitive disturbances associated with brain pathology of a limited subsample of the human species-contemporary Western, and most often, urban middle-class and literate brain-damaged individuals-have been relatively well analyzed. Our understanding about the brain’s organization of cognitive abilities, and the disturbances in cases of brain pathology, is therefore not only partial but, undoubtedly, culturally biased (Ardila, 1995; Fletcher-Janzen, Strickland, & Reynolds, 2000). Cultural and linguistic diversity is an enormous, but frequently, overlooked moderating variable. Several thousands of different cultures have been described by anthropology (e.g., Bernatzik, 1957), and contemporary humans speak over 6,800 different languages (Grimes, 2000; www.ethnologue.com). Norms for performance in a sufficiently broad array of neuropsychological tests, and an
extended analysis of cognitive disturbances in different cultural and ecological contexts are necessary for us to understand and serve the neuropsychological needs of our constituency. The need for the development of cross-cultural neuropsychology is evident.
