Neurocognitive

Schizoaffective disorder involves the characteristics of schizophrenia and mood disorders. Diagnosing schizoaffective disorder includes assessing a patient’s history and current symptoms. Amy, a 25-year-old mixed Asian and Caucasian woman is the focus of the case study. Misdiagnosis can include bipolar or schizophrenia, proper assessment of both history and current symptoms are necessary for correct diagnosis. Treatment of schizoaffective disorder consists of medications, psychotherapy,…

Throughout human history, our species lived in groups – and not just because people are sociable beings, but because living together increases the chance of survival. Ideally, community provides protection against a constantly changing environment – or at least, tries to ease the hardships caused – and acts as a ’safety net’ in case of members being less well-off than the majority. However, theory does not entirely match reality, as evident in the situation of the poorest in modern societies. As…

about how stress is a major force that shapes the development of people in their early childhood. In addition, children who live in poverty, experience more toxic stress than other middle-class children. Then, once children are in the classroom, neurocognitive difficulties can turn into academic complications; which then can be perceived as attitude or motivational problems. The article then goes into how abounding numbers of school systems evaluate their teachers on standardized-test scores,…

life during which key decisions in educational, occupational, and social realms are made. Therefore, valid information on the causes and consequences of alcohol use during this developmental period is needed in order to prevent alcohol-related neurocognitive impairments. In this paper, I discussed how alcohol alters brain thickness in the cortex, changes in the gray and white matter, and decreases in the volume of the hippocampus. These research findings are very evident to conclude that…

As 2014 five of the countries 1.1 million high school football athletes have died from a cause of head or spinal injury. When a player is hit head on head with another player a concussion can occur. This is caused when the brain strikes the inner skull. When this action occurs extreme outcomes can happen. Long term incidents like MCI and CTE can develop and have an impact on the player for the rest of his life (“Impact”). Head to head contact has a lot of consequences. It can alter someone's…

Laura’s grandfather has begun having memory problems. First, he would constantly forget where he placed his keys or his wallet. Then he would have trouble remembering to pay the bills or cooking dinner. One day, Laura took him shopping, and in the middle of the trip, while they were both using the restroom, Laura’s grandpa left. Laura spent many hours searching for him in the shopping area, but to no avail, she could not find him. When she returned home, she found him sitting on the couch, and…

are in Neuropsychology? Most careers in neuropsychology can be found in academic and clinical organizations. Neuropsychologists strive to apply neuropsychological practices and to help people with illnesses or mental health problems overcome neurocognitive problems. Those who are interested in neuropsychology careers will find three job descriptions below. Clinical Research Assistant Clinical research assistants conduct placement interviews, review assessments and administer questionnaires to…

Background: Selective and exaggerated attention towards threat, termed attention bias (AB), has been identified as a core behavioral and neurocognitive mechanism in anxiety (Bar-Haim et al., 2010). AB is commonly quantified through the dot probe (DP) paradigm in which neutral and threatening faces compete for attention (Mathews & MacLeod, 2002). Another commonly-used measure of AB is the Posner spatial cueing paradigm in which neutral and threatening words serve as valid and invalid cues (Posner…

Bipolar Disorder Bipolar disorder (PBD) is a serious, disabling, and potentially life-threatening mental illness. The defining characteristics of the condition are alternating phases of depression and manic or hypomanic episodes. Mania is exclusive to bipolar I, while hypomania is associated with bipolar II. Description Statistics The most frequently used and widely accepted reference for classifying symptoms and diagnostic criteria of mental disorders is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of…

In order to understand the severity of concussions, baseline performance testing is used to determine the range of neurocognitive functions in collegiate athletes. This testing is used to determine the average range of memory and motor skills at a normal, functional level. (4) To reflect and compare, the King-Devicke test is used to screen for on impact concussion detection…