Neuropsychology of Everyday Functioning (Science and Practice of Neuropsychology)

Book Preface

The field of neuropsychology has continued to evolve over the past six decades. The initial focus of the field on questions related to detection of cognitive dysfunction in various disorders, and the use of neurobehavioral investigations to better understand brain–behavior relationships, has now been amplified by an increased focus on taking neuropsychology out of the laboratory and into the real world. This emphasis on understanding the generalizability of laboratory phenomena to everyday functioning will be a critical next step as the field embraces the concepts of evidence-based science and practice. Until recently clinicians’ judgments about the  real-world implications of their evaluations were predicated on presumptions about which cognitive abilities were central to the performance of activities of daily living. The increasing engagement of occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, speech and language pathologists, rehabilitation psychologists, and other disciplines in the direct examination of the link between the laboratory and daily life is an important step forward.

In this volume, editors Thomas D. Marcotte and Igor Grant have assembled leaders from diverse perspectives that reflect the complexity of the issues that impact our understanding of the relationship of laboratory findings and daily function. For example, in Chapter 2, Wendy A. Rogers, Andrew K. Mayer, and Cara B. Fausset introduce the field of ergonomics and human factors, which has obvious implications for the study of everyday implications, but is a field to which most neuropsychologists have had little exposure. Similarly, Carolyn M. Baum and Noomi Katz, in Chapter 3, present the perspective of the discipline of occupational therapy, which has a robust tradition of helping patients adapt to their environments and vice versa. As Baum and Katz point out, and as many neuropsychologists know, occupational therapists have a distinct approach to cognitive assessment that is explicitly oriented to functional abilities. Section B of Part I of the volume focuses on approaches to the measurement of specific functional domains such as medication management and driving, as well as the relationship of neuropsychological status with vocational performance and instrumental activities of daily living. Part III addresses questions of everyday function in the setting of several common neurological and psychiatric disorders and normal aging, and also discusses the impact of cognitive impairment on quality of life.

This volume is the fifth in the Guilford series The Science and Practice of Neuropsychology. The goal of this series is to integrate the scientific foundations and clinical applications of knowledge of brain–behavior relationships. In the modern era, which emphasizes translational research, the contributors to this volume exemplify the application of evidence from the research and clinical laboratory to the real world.

Robert A. Bornstein, PhD