neurologic disorders
Overview of Cerebral Function
Diagnosis of Cerebral Dysfunction
Clinical evaluation Often neuropsychologic testing In general, diagnosis of cerebral dysfunction is clinical, often assisted by neuropsychologic testing. This standardized testing provides information about the brain’s structural and functional integrity. It evaluates intelligence, executive function (eg, planning, abstraction, conceptualization), attention, memory, language, perception, sensorimotor functions, motivation, mood and emotion, quality of life, and personality. Diagnosis of the cause usually requires laboratory tests (blood and sometimes analysis of cerebrospinal fluid) and brain imaging, either structural (CT, MRI) or functional (positron emission tomography [PET], single-photon emission CT). 