CURRENT APPROACHES TO NEUROBEHAVIORAL TESTING IN OCCUPATIONAL-HEALTH

In recent years neurobehavioural tests have been used increasingly in occupational settings to identify changes in cognitive function associ ated with exposure to neurotoxicants. Potential applications of these methods in occupational health include research, diagnosis, and screen ing. Applications in cross sectional research studies, involving the c omparison of the performance of exposed and control groups, are well e stablished. However, the use of such methods requires attention to fac tors other than exposure which may influence test performance. The val idity of adapting existing test batteries for diagnosis or screening i s questionable. Well developed techniques exist for diagnosis but this requires lengthy and skilled test administration and interpretation a nd cannot be accomplished with research batteries. The application of neurobehavioural methods for screening currently presents several diff iculties. Current problems and future directions in this field are dis cussed.