title: Developmental disorders: what can be learned from cognitive neuropsychology?
abstract: The discipline of cognitive neuropsychology has been important for informing theories of cognition and describing the nature of acquired cognitive disorders, but its applicability in a developmental context has been questioned. Here, we revisit this issue, asking whether the cognitive neuropsychological approach can be helpful for exploring the nature and causes of developmental disorders and, if so, how. We outline the key features of the cognitive neuropsychological approach, and then consider how some of the major challenges to this approach from a developmental perspective might be met. In doing so, we distinguish between challenges to the methods of cognitive neuropsychology and those facing its deeper conceptual underpinnings. We conclude that the detailed investigation of patterns of both associations and dissociations, and across both developmental and acquired cases, can assist in describing the cognitive deficits within developmental disorders and in delineating possible causal pathways to their acquisition.
authors: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, , Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Castles
authors: Saskia
authors: S
authors: Kohnen
authors: Lyndsey
authors: L
authors: Nickels
authors: Jon
authors: J
authors: Brock
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009484:Neuropsychology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*
keywords: acquired disorders; associations; cognitive neuropsychology; developmental disorders; dissociations