1. Network neuropsychology: The map and the territory
- Author
-
Cameron E. Ferguson
- Subjects
medicine.diagnostic_test ,Psychometrics ,medicine.drug_class ,Cognitive Neuroscience ,Neuropsychology ,Aptitude ,Cognition ,Neuropsychological test ,Neuropsychological Tests ,Dissociative ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,medicine ,Humans ,Cognitive skill ,Cognition Disorders ,Psychology ,Associative property ,Cognitive psychology ,Network model - Abstract
In "network neuropsychology", network modelling and graph theory is applied to the neuropsychological test scores of patients with neurological disorders to investigate cognitive functioning. This review identifies the emerging literature across several disorders before focusing on the assumptions about cognition underlying the studies; specifically, that cognition can be thought of as a network of interrelated variables and that changes in these interrelationships, or cognitive rearrangement, can occur in neurological disorders. Next the review appraises how well network models can provide a "map" of this cognitive "territory". In particular, the review considers issues of a lack of correspondence between the variables and properties of network models and cognitive functioning. The challenges of explicitly accounting for latent cognitive constructs and drawing inferences about cognition based on associative, as opposed to dissociative, methods are also discussed. It is concluded that the validity of network neuropsychological models is yet to be established and that cognitive theory and experiments, as well as network models, are needed to develop and interpret better maps.
- Published
- 2022