Overlap between neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience

[cubscout412]

Hello,

I have been reading several posts about the subtle nuances and differences in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience and neuropsychology. As I'm trying to get a better idea of how each of these fields function, I am still unsure how these differences manifest in the real world. Am I correct in saying that cognitive neuroscientists do not typically see patients? I'm trying to think of a situation in which a patient comes in with a cognitive deficit and it would make sense for a cognitive neuroscientist to assess them over a neuropsychologist or neurologist. Are cognitive and behavioral neuroscientists more focused on the academia/research side of things? I understand this is a psychology forum and so there might not be many people who can speak to the day-to-day job duties of either a cognitive or behavioral neuroscientist, but any help in drawing more defined lines between these areas of neuropsych vs. cognitive vs. behavioral and what these look like when dealing with patients would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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[WisNeuro]

The quick and dirty. Cognitive neuroscientists are typically academicians, not clinicians. That's what neuropsychologists/neurologists are for. There is overlap in theory and research, but the main difference is in application and clinical work using those things.

 

[Ollie123]

As noted above - cognitive/behavioral neuroscientists are not clinically trained and don't see patients. Neuropsychologists are clinically trained and do see patients.

Research topics typically studied do vary somewhat across them, but there is significant overlap. Differences are mostly in methodologies employed.

 

[WisNeuro]

What Ollie said. There is a decent overlap depending on how you were trained and what your job is. For example, I am a neuropsychologist, but also consider myself a behavioral neuroscientist based on my training and teh research I have done and continue to do.

 

[cubscout412]

And in order to do neuropsychology you must get into a clinical psych program correct?

 

[WisNeuro]

Yes, that is correct. Neuropsych is a fairly small world. Do a thread search, we've made a couple threads over the past couple years that discusses the training and what you should consider if you are thinking of this career path.

 

[cubscout412]

Cool..I will take a look. Thanks!

 

[CogNeuroGuy]

Cool..I will take a look. Thanks!

I went to a cognitive-neuroscience master's degree program (graduate in May). I also did clinical work in neuropsychology as well as research. Like much has been said, neuropsychologists are very clinically oriented. I can give you a very good example of how these two fields converge, but then greatly differ. Take theories of cognition, one such theory is the idea of time-dependent processing (involved in various cognitive deficits that involve attention, perception, storage and retrieval of events). In an academic environment, most studies use tests that unfortunately cannot translate into a clinically-applied apparatus. Neuropsychologists will take these theories and/or studies to provide a more person-centered study that will be put up to the task of being both reliable and valid for normative standards and variances that will potentially categorize pathology. Most people in my program focus on neuropharmacological and lesion methods on various animals (at least on the neurobiology side), the cognitive folks focus on computer programs and even some neuropsych/neurocog. methods, but again, they are not readily adaptable to a clinical population.

 

[cubscout412]

Interesting! Thanks CogNeuroGuy. Are you interested in pursuing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience?

 

[DRnotDRbio-psych]

Going with the gist of this post, I am curious as to which specialty of psychology and/or neuroscience would be best (as detailed/specific as possible) for someone looking to focus on research in the area of gender identity and sexual orientation. Specifically in the area of causation, biologically speaking. I am somewhat interested in the endocrinology aspect and behavioral as well, but mostly looking into causation and bio/medical effects of hormone therapy on the brain. As I am deciding direction I find myself unsure of which specialty to focus on that would be in my best interest. Many of the fields are very similar; such as cognitive and neuropsych, so it is difficult to tell which area I should focus on in order to be the most successful.
Suggestions welcome, including specific programs. I am also a non-trad student currently in undergrad.

 

[WisNeuro]

Going with the gist of this post, I am curious as to which specialty of psychology and/or neuroscience would be best (as detailed/specific as possible) for someone looking to focus on research in the area of gender identity and sexual orientation. Specifically in the area of causation, biologically speaking. I am somewhat interested in the endocrinology aspect and behavioral as well, but mostly looking into causation and bio/medical effects of hormone therapy on the brain. As I am deciding direction I find myself unsure of which specialty to focus on that would be in my best interest. Many of the fields are very similar; such as cognitive and neuropsych, so it is difficult to tell which area I should focus on in order to be the most successful.
Suggestions welcome, including specific programs. I am also a non-trad student currently in undergrad.

Marc Breedlove and Cindy Jordan at MSU do this type of work.

 

[DRnotDRbio-psych]

Marc Breedlove and Cindy Jordan at MSU do this type of work.

Thanks!