Neuropsychology within the Inpatient Rehabilitation Environment

Neuropsychology is a specialised area within the larger field of psychology, emerging from the pioneering work of early comparative and physiological psychologists interested in the central nervous system mechanisms underlying behaviour. Although often described simply as the study of brain-behaviour relationships, neuropsychology is far more complex than suggested by this basic definition. At minimum, a thorough understanding of neuropsychology rests upon a requisite foundation in anatomy, biology, chemistry, physiology, and, of course, psychology. Furthermore, technological advances during the past few decades, and especially the past few years, that now permit more direct and precise investigations of brain structure and function through neuroimaging procedures have served to increase the neuropsychological literature dramatically, thereby necessitating the acquisition by neuropsychologists of a basic knowledge in engineering and physics that allows for appropriate comprehension and evaluation of the published literature in this relatively new domain.