IN DEFENSE OF THE HALSTEAD REITAN BATTERY - A CRITIQUE OF LEZAK REVIEW

Since many neuropsychologists utilize the Halstead Reitan Battery (HRB ), it is important to answer a critical review contained in Lezak's (1 995) book. Lezak understands hypothesis testing but not HRB pattern an alysis or the use of fixed batteries. A fixed battery provides a const ant background, which reveals individual characteristics of the patien t. Issues discussed include, types of batteries, legitimate review met hods, and Reitan's method. This writing demonstrates that almost all o f Lezak's criticisms of either the HRB or the Halstead Russell Neurops ychological Evaluation System (HRNES) are either incomplete, misleadin g or erroneous. Her critique of the Reitan method involved a confusion of terms. In spite of attempts to discredit the HRB not a single soun d study questioning the validity of the HRB was presented, while many studies have demonstrated its validity. The fallacy of nonrefutation a sserts that it is a fallacy to condemn methods that have been validate d while recommending procedures that have not been validated. Lezak qu estions Reitan's method, the HRB and the HRNES, which have been thorou ghly validated, while presenting no validating studies of her own reco mmended methods. (C) 1998 National Academy of Neuropsychology. Publish ed by Elsevier Science Ltd.