Thomson Memory & Attention - St. Charles, IL

The New Year has begun! Thomson Memory & Attention is wishing everyone a safe and happy new year! Here's to a new year and a new start✨

Something sweet is heading your way! Happy Holidays to you and yours this season! We are wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season from all of us here at Thomson Memory & Attention.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at Thomson Memory & Attention!

Thank you, Veterans, for always serving and protecting each and every one of us. Your bravery will never go unnoticed as we celebrate you today and every day! Happy Veterans Day from all of us here at Thomson Memory & Attention.

Happy Halloween from the ghouls and gals here at Thomson Memory & Attention! Stay safe this spooky season 👻

Everyone is a little Irish today 💚Happy St. Patrick's Day from all of us here at Thomson

NEUROPSYCH KNOCKOUTS:
sensation vs perception

Sensation is the process by which a stimulus excites a receptor and creates a detectable experience. If music is playing, a sensation example would be "I hear something."

Perception is the process of knowing and discerning something about the sensation that has just occurred. When there is music playing and you have sensed that you hear something, a perception example would be "I hear music, and the music playing is ACDC."

This sensing and perceiving process works together for all of our 5 senses.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS:

Neuropsychological tests can indicate sensitively if there is brain damage in any given person. These tests are useful because they help determine if a change in brain function is related to a change in test behavior. There is a wide variety of neuropsychological tests geared towards addressing each particular function-- orientation, sensation/perception, attention, motor, visuospatial, language skills, memory, abstract reasoning/conceptualization, emotional/psychological distress, and activities of daily living.

INTELLIGENCE TESTS:

Intelligence tests are complex measures of verbal and performance abilities that are related, in part, to achievement (i.e., factual knowledge) and aptitude (e.g., problem solving). They help indicate a given person's ability to change or adapt to new situations quickly.

BEHAVIORAL-ADAPTIVE TESTS:

Behavioral-adaptive tests examine the usual and habitual behaviors of the subject taking the test. With these tests, neuropsychologists try to best gauge basic adaptive behaviors (e.g., self-care, communication, socialization, etc.) from individuals who are significantly impaired.

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS:

Achievement tests are one of the commonly used test types used by psychologists and neuropsychologists during diagnostic evaluations. These tests measure how well a person has learned something from past experience. It tests and evaluates educational attainment. Because of this, these tests do not measure or indicate a future potential.

VALIDITY:

Validity is the other of the two things that a neuropsychological test must be in order to be useful. The validity of a measure is reflected in its meaningfulness of specific inferences made from the test scores. Essentially, does the test really measure what it was intended to measure? Having a valid test allows researchers, scientists, and doctors to interpret testing results and generate insights and conclusions.

RELIABILITY:

Reliability is one of two things that a neuropsychological test must be in order to be useful. The reliability of a measure is reflected in its consistency when repeatedly used on the same individual. Essentially, if a person scores one way on the test, that same person should score similarly on that same test a second time around. Having a reliable test allows researchers, scientists, and doctors to interpret testing results and generate insights and conclusions.

Happy New Year from our Thomson family to yours! Let's start the year off on the right foot!

🎆

PSYCHOMETRICS:

Psychometrics, or psychometry, is the scientific discipline concerned with the construction of assessment tools, measurement instruments, and formalized models that help connect observable phenomena to theoretical attributes through standardization. Our doctors and technicians are expertly trained in this discipline in order to properly and objectively gauge a person's behavior and cognitive profile.

Happy Holidays from our Thomson family to yours! We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season. ❄️🎁❄️

NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST:

Neuropsychologists are clinical psychologists that are fellowship-trained in the field of neuropsychology. This makes them experts in the administration and interpretation of testing and testing results. A neuropsychologist is most helpful to the treatment team as a neurobehavioral describer of functional strengths and weaknesses, as well as a provider of neuropsychological diagnoses. These are some of the important responsibilities of a neuropsychologist when caring for patients as an integral piece of a patient's care team.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT:

The neuropsychological approach relies on using tests designed to reflect different aspects of cognitive function. Poor performance on a test may indicate focal, or localized, brain damage while poor performance on a series of tests may reflect diffuse, or widespread, damage.

Neuropsychological assessment serves several purposes. First, it can give a neurocognitive profile of an individual, identifying both strengths and weaknesses in cognitive performance. Second, repeated testing over time can give an insight into changes in cognitive functioning that may relate either to recovery after accident/injury or to the progression of a neurological illness.