Neuropsychology Central

[darkhorse]

Hello all,

I have just recently discovered this interesting branch of clinical psychology. Or rather, to put it more accurately, I have just recently discovered that there is a specific field that *exactly* matches my psychology interests & ambitions!

It's funny... I had been looking at behavioral neuroscience, abnormal (clinical) psychology, and the like, but none of them quite matched what I found most fascinating about psychology and what I most wanted to do as a psychologist.

Namely, study the effects of brain damage or neurological illness on cognitive functioning and behavior, with an emphasis on using these disease models to infer models of normal cognitive functioning. When I first read that description of "cognitive neuropsychology"... Wow!

Like many of you, I loved reading Oliver Sacks, Ramachandran, et al. But Sacks is a neurologist, a medical physician. And while I've toyed with the idea of going to medical school, I'm more interested in pursuing further education in psychology. Yet I love the biological approach to understanding behavior.... But biopsychology lacks the clinical focus of, well, clinical psychology, and I've always loved studying case studies of individuals like Phineas Gage, Genie, and so on.

Seeming to answer all my caveats, cognitive neuropsychology has the biological, neuroscience emphasis, yet its focus is on individuals with disrupted functioning, much like clinical psychology. Somewhat unlike clinical psychology, cognitive neuropsychology is also focused on the basic science of inferring models of cognition in normal individuals. In short, it's a beautiful marriage of all my psychology interests. I've been scouring the net for additional information... and came upon this lovely site.

Where do I go from here? A little bit about my background. I have an undergrad degree in biology, and I'm currently in a master's program for psychology. I know, it's rare to find a terminal master's degree program in psychology. Basically, the program is giving me some research experience, which I lacked as an undergrad in biology. However, the research that I'm currently doing is more of a statistical analysis and does not involve any neuroscience, neuropsychology, or what have you. I don't have any experience conducting MRI research or working with such equipment. This makes me wary.

I will be finishing the program by this fall and I would like to start applying to neuropsychology programs which would begin the following fall. So, I have three questions. Basically, I would like to know how to go about obtaining the education that would enable me to become a cognitive neuropsychologist.

1) Even after all the "exploration" I've done, I'm still a bit unclear about where neuropsychology as a discipline is located. I know it's possible to either go the route of medical school or the route of clinical psychology. Which is better?

2) Which psychology departments actually offer the track of "cognitive neuropsychology"?

3) I'm a bit concerned about my qualifications for applying to a PhD program. As an undergrad, I had a 3.23 as a biology major at a very competitive university (qualification for Dean's List was 3.25). Currently as a Master's student at the same university, my grades are somewhat better.. I suspect I'll finish with an overall GPA (for the program) of around 3.5-3.6. Since I'm basically taking all psychology courses (only one quantitative stats course), it's considerably easier.

My GRE scores were 680M, 780V. My main worry? Recommendation letters! As a Master's student, I took a psychology course taught by my thesis advisor... and got a B. Not even a B+, but a B. We had had a few.. run-ins before that, anyway. And overall, I just don't feel like we have the most ideal relationship. I'm still working hard on my thesis project... but to be honest, I just don't feel like my advisor/professor is going to be my best ally in terms of getting into a doctoral program.

Okay.. all that background was just to give a basic description of my "situation", so to speak. Given everything I've said, what programs should I shoot for? Any general advice about my letter of recommendation dilemma?

I really would love to have the opportunity to study special populations and perhaps even write about them, in the manner of Oliver Sacks. It's deeply fascinating to me, yet I don't know how to go about getting there in terms of how to get past my lack of relevant research experience, advisor/letter troubles, or even simply what programs to apply for.

Well, thank you for wading through that long post . If anyone has any ideas, recommendations, or advice, I would be very grateful! Thanks in advance!

-darkhorse

[Helix]

Hello darkhorse,

first of all, I can't help you with your main question as I'm not from the US. I just read about your fascination for single case studies in the sense of Sacks or Damasio, so I wanted to recommend the books by Alexander R. Luria (just in case you don't know them). I think you will really love these: "The man with a shattered world" and "The mind of a mnemonist". Luria is one the great neuropsychologist and people like Sacks regard their own work in the tradition of him.

Helix

[lash]

Hi Darkhorse,

1) Neuropsychologists are not medical doctors. You'd have to go to graduate school too, so if you just want to be a neuropsychologist, don't bother with medical school.

2) I'm in clinical neuropsychology, not cognitive, so I can't really advise you on specific schools. It really depends on what area of cognitive neuropsych you're interested in. I wouldn't expect to find it as a program, but there should be cognitive neuropsych labs in a few (for example)cognitive science departments. At Johns Hopkins, at least, that's true, so it's probably true other places as well. If I were you, I'd do some research and find out who's doing work in an area that interests you (language, memory, etc.) and see if they're at a graduate program. At the very least, you could try contacting that person and see if they have any suggestions--everyone likes hearing from people who are interested in their work.

3) Find someone else who can write you a strong letter--but also get one from your major advisor. Kiss up if you must. The really important thing is finding a potential advisor that you're very interested in working with--as long as you can convince them (and yourself), you can worry a little less about the recommendation letters.

Also, nothing wrong with associating Sacks with neuropsychology even though he is a neurologist. Freud was also a medical doctor, and large branches of psychology follow him too. There's a big overlap between neurology and neuropsych.

Good luck.
_________________
Lee Ashendorf, Ph.D.
Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial VA
Co-Webmaster, Neuropsychology Central