What is the difference between these fields in psychology???

[caduceus27]

Hello everyone
I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Im applying the PhD programs. ans I would like to know the difference between

Behavioral neuroscience

Neuropsychology

Cognitive neuroscience.

I actually not in psychology at all, Im acutally in Occupational therapy

In case someone does not know what Occupational therapy is, Occupational therapy looks at functional deficits in individuals with different disorders such as stroke, TBI etc.. and finds ways to help them engage in their daily activities independently.

So Im trying to find an area in psychology that can be related back to Occupational therapy the above fields relate to Occupational therapy in some way. However, I dont know the difference between them. Like Behavioral neuroscience and neuropsychology sound the same to me. Dont they both look at how the structural deficits in the brain affect behavior? Thank you in advance for any input 🙂

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[neuropsyance]

Since you're into rehabilitation it sounds like, I think I already know the answer to my first question, but I'll ask it anyway. Are you interested in strictly conducting research or actually working with patients? This could have a large impact on what you would choose. To answer your question though..... Behavioral Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience are different in many ways, but there is one aspect that clearly separates them. Behavioral Neuroscience uses a bottom-up approach to studying the brain, that is, a manipulation is made to the nervous system, and the experimenters then examine what effect that manipulation has on behavior (i.e. injecting a particular brain structure of a rat with a drug that inhibits the functioning of that structure, followed by observing the deficits or lack of deficits that occur in the functioning of that rat in terms of learning, motor functioning, etc.) Cognitive Neuroscience differs from Behavioral Neuroscience in that it uses a top-down approach to study the brain. Instead of manipulating structures in the brains of animals, cognitive neuroscience uses human participants (and no, we don't inject human brains with drugs haha). Cognitive Neuroscience uses a variety of, if you ask me, awesome technology such as fMRI and EEG to study the functioning brains response to a variety of stimuli. This data is then used to make inferences related to cognitive functioning in a variety of individuals such as those who have had a stroke, suffered traumatic brain injury, or have a neurodegenerative disorder. Clinical Neuropsychology is a specialization within the field of Clinical Psychology that is interested in the way in which brain disorders or injury affect human behavior and functioning. It is similar to Cognitive Neuroscience in that it generally studies the same patient populations (stroke, brain injury, neurodenerative), but differs in that it is a much more clinically focused field. Clinical Neuropsychologists are often hired by hospitals and medical centers, the VA, etc. to use various neuropsychological assessment tools to determine deficits in these types patients. Another cool part of Clinical Neuropsychology is that you can provide testimony for court cases related to brain injury. If you choose to go this route, you'll need to get into a Clinical Ph.D. or Psy.D. program, complete a NEUROPSYCH internship, then a two-year NEUROPSYCH post-doc/residency (information on this can be found here: http://www.div40.org/training/index.html) If you're interested in more of a rehabilitation setting, or simply interested in clinical work instead of research, I highly recommend you look into Clinical Neuropsychology. If you're strictly interested in research, cognitive psychology wouldn't be a bad place for you either. If I've missed anything here, I'm sure some other SDN'ers will fill in. Good luck!

 

[neuropsyance]

I don't know why, but SDN got rid of my separate paragraphs. Sorry if it's harder to read now.

 

[erg923]

Hello everyone
I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Im applying the PhD programs. ans I would like to know the difference between

Behavioral neuroscience

Neuropsychology

Cognitive neuroscience.

I actually not in psychology at all, Im acutally in Occupational therapy

In case someone does not know what Occupational therapy is, Occupational therapy looks at functional deficits in individuals with different disorders such as stroke, TBI etc.. and finds ways to help them engage in their daily activities independently.

So Im trying to find an area in psychology that can be related back to Occupational therapy the above fields relate to Occupational therapy in some way. However, I dont know the difference between them. Like Behavioral neuroscience and neuropsychology sound the same to me. Dont they both look at how the structural deficits in the brain affect behavior? Thank you in advance for any input 🙂

I Answered part of tis in another thread you started.....

Although neuropsychology does have a purely experimental branch (thats all neuropsychology used be actually), when people refer to "neuropsychology" these days, they are most often refering to the practice of neuropsychology (ie., "clinical neuropsychology"). That is, working directly with humans and assessing mental and psychiatric functioning for purposes of clincial care, diagnosis, and treatment.

Cog neuroscience focuses very little on psychometrics or the actually assessment of mental abilities/psychopathology, and soleley studies the underlying neuroanatomy of cognitive processes. Its pure research as well, as yopu are not clincially trained to perform formal cognitive or personality assessment, make diagnosises, or conduct treatment or interventions.

 

[Ollie123]

What they all said. Though I will add that many clinical psychologists (both neuro and non-neuro) do behavioral neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience research.

I would probably include myself in the latter category. I don't consider myself to be a neuropsych person by any stretch of the imagination, but my primary research has a distinct cog neuro bend to it. I'm much more interested in looking at brain waves than I am in giving out surveys🙂

 

[neuropsyance]

I'm much more interested in looking at brain waves than I am in giving out surveys🙂

I couldn't agree more.

 

[caduceus27]

Since you're into rehabilitation it sounds like, I think I already know the answer to my first question, but I'll ask it anyway. Are you interested in strictly conducting research or actually working with patients? This could have a large impact on what you would choose. To answer your question though..... Behavioral Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience are different in many ways, but there is one aspect that clearly separates them. Behavioral Neuroscience uses a bottom-up approach to studying the brain, that is, a manipulation is made to the nervous system, and the experimenters then examine what effect that manipulation has on behavior (i.e. injecting a particular brain structure of a rat with a drug that inhibits the functioning of that structure, followed by observing the deficits or lack of deficits that occur in the functioning of that rat in terms of learning, motor functioning, etc.) Cognitive Neuroscience differs from Behavioral Neuroscience in that it uses a top-down approach to study the brain. Instead of manipulating structures in the brains of animals, cognitive neuroscience uses human participants (and no, we don't inject human brains with drugs haha). Cognitive Neuroscience uses a variety of, if you ask me, awesome technology such as fMRI and EEG to study the functioning brains response to a variety of stimuli. This data is then used to make inferences related to cognitive functioning in a variety of individuals such as those who have had a stroke, suffered traumatic brain injury, or have a neurodegenerative disorder. Clinical Neuropsychology is a specialization within the field of Clinical Psychology that is interested in the way in which brain disorders or injury affect human behavior and functioning. It is similar to Cognitive Neuroscience in that it generally studies the same patient populations (stroke, brain injury, neurodenerative), but differs in that it is a much more clinically focused field. Clinical Neuropsychologists are often hired by hospitals and medical centers, the VA, etc. to use various neuropsychological assessment tools to determine deficits in these types patients. Another cool part of Clinical Neuropsychology is that you can provide testimony for court cases related to brain injury. If you choose to go this route, you'll need to get into a Clinical Ph.D. or Psy.D. program, complete a NEUROPSYCH internship, then a two-year NEUROPSYCH post-doc/residency (information on this can be found here: http://www.div40.org/training/index.html) If you're interested in more of a rehabilitation setting, or simply interested in clinical work instead of research, I highly recommend you look into Clinical Neuropsychology. If you're strictly interested in research, cognitive psychology wouldn't be a bad place for you either. If I've missed anything here, I'm sure some other SDN'ers will fill in. Good luck!

THANKS for answering my question. Its very clear the difference between those areas. To answer your question I would actually like to do research more than actually clinical since I have already have a clinical component in Occupational therapy. However, are neuropsychology trained to do research as cognitive neuroscience people. To make it more clear I would like to study vision and cognition in individuals with tbi, stroke, parkinsons etc.. which do you think would be a better fit. thanks agian

 

[Ollie123]

Could go either route, but clinical neuropsychology might be the better route since you would be more apt to find people with experience and access to those specific populations in such a program.

Just be picky about who you work with. Some neuropsychologists do "Cog neuro" type research, others know very little about anything beyond the strict clinical domain (i.e. traditional assessment procedures).

 

[CogNeuro]

Hello everyone
I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Im applying the PhD programs. ans I would like to know the difference between

Behavioral neuroscience

Neuropsychology

Cognitive neuroscience.

I actually not in psychology at all, Im acutally in Occupational therapy

In case someone does not know what Occupational therapy is, Occupational therapy looks at functional deficits in individuals with different disorders such as stroke, TBI etc.. and finds ways to help them engage in their daily activities independently.

So Im trying to find an area in psychology that can be related back to Occupational therapy the above fields relate to Occupational therapy in some way. However, I dont know the difference between them. Like Behavioral neuroscience and neuropsychology sound the same to me. Dont they both look at how the structural deficits in the brain affect behavior? Thank you in advance for any input 🙂

Good question. These are all fascinating and growing fields, and it can be hard to discern their nuances because they are all overlapping in content. However, they each have clear distinctions in their methods. I will try to highlight those distinct qualities below.

Behavioral neuroscience is the study of the nervous system's involvement in behavior. This field usually studies the "lower-level" brain processes shared by all mammals. Research in this area primarily focuses on non-human animal subjects. For example, it often involves surgically operating on rats. In terms of anatomy, this field is most concerned with the subcortical brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system, as well as other systems in the body which interact with the nervous system such as the immune system. (This is synonymous with physiological psychology.)

Cognitive neuroscience is the study of the brain basis for mental phenomena. This field usually studies "higher-level" brain processes, many of which are uniquely human. You could also say that it focuses on the "systems level" of brain function. Research in this area primarily focuses on human subjects. The main methods are functional neuroimaging, neurophysiological recording, and experimental psychology. In terms of anatomy, this field is most concerned with the cerebral cortex and some subcortical areas. (This is the merging of cognitive and biological psychology.)

Neuropsychology has two branches: experimental and clinical. As someone else noted, this field began as a purely experimental field, but the term "experimental neuropsychology" has dissolved due to the rise of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience. It was basically a precursor to those fields. Clinical neuropsychology is a branch of clinical psychology which focuses on diagnosing and treating people with brain damage that has resulted in behavioral deficits. This is an applied field (while the others are basic sciences), so while it employs many of the same methods as behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, the end is to solve specific problems. The end of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience is to gain more knowledge. That is the basic distinction of basic and applied research.

 

[CogNeuro]

Behavioral Neuroscience uses a bottom-up approach to studying the brain, that is, a manipulation is made to the nervous system, and the experimenters then examine what effect that manipulation has on behavior (i.e. injecting a particular brain structure of a rat with a drug that inhibits the functioning of that structure, followed by observing the deficits or lack of deficits that occur in the functioning of that rat in terms of learning, motor functioning, etc.) Cognitive Neuroscience differs from Behavioral Neuroscience in that it uses a top-down approach to study the brain.

I really liked your explanation with one minor qualm. It is not always the case that behavioral neuroscience is a "bottom-up" approach or that cognitive neuroscience is a "top-down" approach. While I can see how this would be a useful distinction in many cases, I know there are at least a few neuroscientists who reject the distinction.

 

[CogNeuro]

Could go either route, but clinical neuropsychology might be the better route since you would be more apt to find people with experience and access to those specific populations in such a program.

Just be picky about who you work with. Some neuropsychologists do "Cog neuro" type research, others know very little about anything beyond the strict clinical domain (i.e. traditional assessment procedures).

On the contrary, I recommend cognitive neuroscience. There is a whole program of research within cog neuro which studies the neural basis of psychopathology. If he is interested in doing basic research about how the brain produces these mental abnormalities, then he should study cog neuro.

Besides, I have read many cog neuro research articles which used samples of neurological patients. Clearly, they have decent access to these populations.

 

[Ollie123]

Study, or enter a program for?

My point was that many (I actually suspect most, but obviously don't have numbers) of the folks you describe doing cognitive neuroscience research in order to study psychopathology are clinical faculty, in clinical programs.

I think the broader point is to pick the faculty member, not the program. Just as there are plenty of clinical neuropsychologists who know very little about cognitive neuro paradigms, there are plenty of cognitive neuroscientists who know very little about clinical populations and have never used a clinical sample. If you work with one of those folks, it may be far more difficult to get access to research samples you want/need, relative to working with a clinical psychologist who does cognitive neuroscience research. Regardless, as long as you find someone who does both, it will probably meet your needs.

 

[CogNeuro]

I see your point, but there are non-clinical neuroscientists who study the neural basis of psychopathology. Perhaps clinical neuropsychologists are the ones doing the initial assessments, but cognitive neuroscientists often perform experiments on these patients (and on normal controls) to discern the anatomical facts about the pathology. You don't need clinical training to do this.

 

[Salience]

.....