Applications of Neurocognitive Assessment in Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Neurocognition is a critically important dimension of our daily functioning that is impacted negatively by a host of non-neurological, systemic diseases. In the field of behavioral medicine, neurocognitive testing is used to examine the impact of such diseases and their risk factors on multiple domains of function including attention; learning and memory; executive functions; visuospatial; psychomotor; and perceptual abilities; and language. In that regard, a host of behavioral, biomedical, psychosocial, and psychophysiological risk factors and a broad spectrum of systemic medical diseases confer vulnerability to (or in some instances resilience against) cognitive difficulties, subclinical cerebrovascular disease, and ultimately dementia or stroke. Neurocognitive assessment can also be used to help facilitate an understanding of medical decision making, treatment outcomes, quality of life, and functional status. For example, the executive functions may have a particularly important role in health behaviors and their change, management of chronic disease and chronic pain, treatment adherence, and other medical decision making. Neuropsychological assessment is highly relevant to the study and practice of behavioral medicine.