Understanding the relationship between the brain and behaviour - V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the relationship between the brain and behaviour.
IRAS ID
195921
Contact name
Sarah E. MacPherson
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The proposed project aims to assess individuals who have been referred to and assessed within the Department of Clinical Neurosciences Neuropsychology Outpatient Clinic at the Western General Hospital or the Neuropsychology Outpatient Clinic at the Astley Ainslie Hospital. Individuals attending the clinics will have undergone a standard clinical neuropsychological assessment conducted by clinicians. However, certain individuals may be identified by clinicians as benefiting from additional assessment in order to understand and evaluate their impairments further. Such assessments are not possible within the clinic due to constraints such as time and test availability. These individuals will therefore be referred to academic cognitive neuropsychologists within the Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh (subject to them giving permission). During the session, individuals will be asked to perform non-invasive, paper and pencil tasks and computer tasks that are relatively simple to perform, similar to those that occupational therapists or clinical neuropsychologists might administer in routine practice. The testing sessions will last no longer than 3 hours (2 x 1.5 hour or 3 x 1 hour sessions) and the individuals' performance will be compared to a group of healthy individuals without brain damage matched for age, education and gender. The results of these assessments will be reported back to the referring clinician. The study will focus on those individuals who have difficulties formulating, achieving and carrying out plans in everyday life. Equally, however, individuals with other cognitive impairments (e.g., memory impairments) might be referred for assessments. Such an in-depth examination allows both clinicians and researchers to understand these individuals' patterns of spared and impaired abilities and may be used to inform a tailored rehab approach. In addition, such single case studies have made invaluable contributions to our understanding of normal mind functioning.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
17/SS/0142
Date of REC Opinion
24 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion