PSYCH-706 Assessment II
The goal of this course is to serve as a foundation for clinical practice and research activity in the important area of clinical neuropsychological assessment and psychological assessment. It serves to introduce the student to the techniques, methods and theories relevant to the practice of neuropsychological and psychological assessment. The course can roughly be divided into two halves. In the first half general technique, theory, and individual statistics will be covered. This will start with the procedures for the clinical neuropsychological examination, including the interview, preparation of the patient, and selection of instruments. The nature and structure of cognition, factor structure of the neuropsychological battery, and a theory of brain-behavior relationships will be covered. This will be followed by coverage of statistics as applied to assessment, that is, the difference between the inferential form of statistics students are used to (group statistics) and the probabilistic form (individual) of statistics useful in assessment. Subsequent focus will be on clinical decision-making, that is, the use of test data to respond to the diagnostic and descriptive questions that are the goals of the assessment process. The first half of the class will finish with a focus on individual differences, critical to the interpretation psychological test data. The second half of the course will focus on specific cognitive functions, assessment of personality and psychopathology, and on civil and forensic contexts relevant to assessment. Normally offered yearly.
Prerequisite
Students who specified one or more of these Programs of Study or Program Foci Clinical Psychology PHD