Neuropsychological Assessment and Rehabilitation: Historical Development and Current Perspectives

The present paper aimed to briefly present a historical view of Neuropsychology and later, to propose research topics in Brazil. Neuropsychology history encompassed at least three major themes: the cardiac hypothesis versus the brain hypothesis, localizationism versus holism and functionalism versus cognitivism. These themes influenced research in neuropsychology and based current practice. Furthermore, two important aspects of neuropsychology are discussed: neuropsychological assessment in different age groups and neuropsychological rehabilitation. Major topics involved on the study of the differences in brain functioning through life span are briefly presented and their role in building evidence-based practice and in supporting theoretical models is showed. Finally, several difficulties found in adapting neuropsychological rehabilitation to the Brazilian context are discussed. Keywords: neuropsychology; neuropsychological assessment; neuropsychological rehabilitation.