ABSTRACT
Neuropsychological testing consists of the administration of tests that have been specifically designed to evaluate an individual’s functioning in cognitive domains such as abstract thinking, academic skills, attention, cognitive flexibility, concentration, executive functions, language, judgment, intellectual functioning, learning, memory, motor functions, organization, planning, problem solving, speed of cognitive processing, and visual-spatial and visual-constructional skills. The neuropsychologists also administer tests to evaluate a patient’s emotional and psychological functioning in response to a brain insult and preexisting personality traits. In medicolegal cases, specialized tests are commonly administered to plaintiffs to assess their effort and motivation to perform to the best of their ability on the concurrently administered neuropsychological tests. The results of these tests can assist the neuropsychologist determine whether an individual’s test performances truly reflect cognitive deficits caused by a specific brain insult or are the results of nonneurological factors. These test results can also assist the neuropsychologist determine whether the individual being tested is exaggerating their cognitive and psychological symptoms as a result of their underlying troubled psychological state, need for attention, or malingering (see Chapter 11).
