Neuropsychology Through Clinical Cases: Possibilities and Limits

Course Coordinator and Team: Anoop Kumar Koileri (Karampura Campus)&NeetuRana(Kashmere Gate Campus)

Email of course coordinator: anoopkoileri[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in , neeturana[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in

Pre-requisites: None

Aim:

This course is imparted with the goal of introducing students to the theory and practice of Neuropsychology. This subject is a specialized subfield of Clinical Psychology and aims to assess and interpret the relationship between nervous system function, cognition, emotion and behaviour; and to apply this knowledge to the design of individualized psychological initiatives. The course helps an aspiring student of psychology to comprehend the objective physiological basis underlying all complex human behaviours and promotes rational use of theories and practices in the field of psychology for betterment of human life.

Whereas classical psychology is largely focused on mental processes underlying behaviour, and classical neurology focuses on the pathology of the nervous system, neuropsychology seeks to discover how the brain correlates with the mind through the study of neurological cases. Students will gain an understanding of the field through review of adult clinical cases of neurological disorders. The psychosocial adjustment of patients living with each disorder and the dynamics among individuals involved in their care are additional themes of emphasis. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach integrating information from several subfields of psychology (cognitive, abnormal, developmental, biological, health psychology) and medicine (neurology and neuro-biology).

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

1. Introduction to Neuropsychology: History and Basic Assumptions

This section will throw light on the history and development of neuropsychology as a specialized field in the realm of psychology. The basic philosophy and assumptions guiding the objective analysis of behaviour through a neuropsychological lens would be discussed.

• Ancient Egypt
• Aristotle
• Hippocrates
• René Descartes
• Thomas Willis
• Franz Joseph Gall
• Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud
• Paul Broca
• Karl Spencer Lashley

2. The structure of the Human Brain: Central Nervous System

• Gross anatomy
• Microanatomy
• Cerebrospinal fluid
• Blood supply

3. Physiology underlying Behaviour: functional relationship between brain and behaviour

Many species of animal occur in groups, and fundamental processes such as reproduction, foraging, dispersal and migration occur within this social context. The multi-dimensional nature of biological processes leading to origin and sustenance of human behaviour in relation to brain development would be encapsulated under four dimensions

• Phylogeny
• Development
• Proximate mechanisms
• Adaptive consequences

4. Brain and Cognition

• Consciousness
• Perception
• Attention
• Memory
• Learning

5. Understanding basic neuropsychological disorders

• Disorders of perception
• Disorders of memory
• Disorders of learning
• Neuro-degenerative disorders
• Disorders from trauma

6. Introduction to neuropsychological testing

Basic introduction would be provided to the students about the method of neuropsychological testing with emphasis on benefits and scientific rationale of testing. Few available ‘tests of executive functions’ from the below mentioned would be demonstrated in the class.

• Digit Vigilance Test
• Word Fluency Test
• Finger Tapping Test
• Stroop Test
• Bender Gestalt Test
• Auditory Verbal Learning Test
• Tower of London

7. Brain Plasticity and Neuro-rehabilitation

The function of neuroplasticity in optimizing the neural networks especially in relation to the following would be discussed.

• Phylogenesis
• Ontogeny
• Physiological learning
• Brain injury

8. Case studies in Neuropsychology

• Phineas Gage
• H.M
• Callosal syndrome

Assessment schedule with details of weightage*: