Neuropsychology
In our daily lives we need certain abilities such as anticipating the time to arrive at a place, concentrating on work, memorizing what I need to buy later or something that was told to me.
These skills that we use in our daily lives and to face great challenges are called cognitive abilities.
Attention
This function is fundamental to daily life. It allows us to focus our mental activity or senses on a specific stimulus or object. It is essential for us to later reason about what we have attended to or to create a memory of that information.
Executive functions
A set of higher skills such as planning, organization, anticipation, sequencing of behavior, setting goals and monitoring or supervision of the process to achieve them, decision-making or initiating actions and cognitive flexibility, that is, the ability to value other options besides our preferred option for a given issue.
Logical reasoning
Logical reasoning refers to the ability to identify a common pattern in a sequence of different stimuli or objects, as well as being able to create a new element that follows that logical pattern.
Memory
The ability to store information in the short term, in the long term, or even during the performance of mental operations; for example, when we perform a multiplication or large addition in our heads, we must remember the initial figures while performing mathematical operations.
Processing speed
The time a person needs to process a given piece of information (a text, an image, or an idea).
Language
Language is the ability to produce understandable verbal messages, whether spoken or written, as well as to understand the meaning of the messages we read or hear.
Calculation
Calculation allows us to perform simple and complex mathematical operations, such as estimating the time it takes to get from one place to another, the proportions for cooking, or for grocery shopping.
Impairment in any of these functions can lead to serious developmental problems. These functions allow us to analyze, perceive, and interpret our environment and apply the most appropriate response. Experiencing difficulties with any of these cognitive abilities can pose a real challenge to carrying out our daily lives normally.
Neuropsychological assessment of children and adolescents
In addition to performance in each of the cognitive abilities mentioned above, overall intellectual abilities are also assessed.
Neuropsychological assessment of adults
In neuropsychological assessment for adults, the aforementioned cognitive abilities can be evaluated, as well as assessing possible age-related and functional impairments.