THE INTERACTION OF RESEARCH AND CLINICAL-APPLICATION IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

Clinical neuropsychology deals with functional disorders after damage to the central nervous system. The scientific study of the various fun ctional deficits has recently led to a better understanding of the org anisation of brain functions in humans. In contrast to the increase in our knowledge of brain organisation, the development of suitable diag nostic and therapeutic procedures has progressed only modestly. Presum ably, this is due to the complexity of the problem and the comparative ly high research demands, as the existing analysis of the Functional d eficits is inadequate to serve as basis for comprehensive rehabilitati on. The fruitful interplay between basic brain research and scientific ally-based clinical application of research findings is outlined and d iscussed in the fields of visual disorders, disorders of hand motor fu nctions, and psychopathology. Neuropsychological rehabilitation aims a t reducing the amount of disability and restoring the patient's qualit y of life; this requires an integrated procedure with high face validi ty at the time of assessing functional deficits in brain-injured patie nts.