Neuropsychology Fundamentals

Neuropsychology Foundations

• The three pillars of neuropsychology are: brain, behavior, and cognition.

Observable Behavior

• Observable behavior that can be seen by others includes: posture, facial expressions, and speech patterns.

Behavioral Absence

• The term "negative symptom" is used to describe behavior that is not present, such as the lack of emotional response.

Goals of Neuropsychologists

• One of the primary goals of neuropsychologists is to understand the relationship between brain function and behavior.

Desired Outcome

• Neuropsychologists want to help people regain normal functioning and independence.

Vision Function

• The main function of vision mentioned in the text is to detect and process visual information.

Visual Information Processing

• Information from the right visual field ends up in the left hemisphere of the brain.

Damage to the Optic Chiasm

• If damage occurs after the optic chiasm, the result is homonymous hemianopia (blindness in the same visual field of both eyes).

Akinetopsia

• Akinetopsia is a rare condition where an individual is unable to perceive motion.

Color Processing

• The ventral pathway, particularly the V4 area, is especially important for processing color.