ABSTRACT
Unlike many subfields of psychology, neuropsychology is believed to offer the researcher the opportunity to study well-defined brain lesions. Vague diagnostic entities such as "schizophrenia" are rather nonspecific, and consequently the reliability of diagnosis is somewhat low. Brain lesions, on the other hand, may be more precisely localized and understood. Study of a more well-defined brain lesion group is likely to yield more meaningful results, especially if reliable and valid neuropsychological tests are used. Unfortunately, neuropsychology is plagued with numerous methodological problems which are inherent to the neurological groups that are studied. Patient groups are not always so "well defined." The purpose of this chapter is to delineate some of the research problems unique to neuropsychology.
