Neuropsychological Assessment of Emotional Processing in Brain-Damaged Patients

This chapter reviews literature on the assessment of emotional processing in brain damaged populations. By emotion, we refer to affective behaviours that are relatively brief in duration. We begin with a brief discussion of the current neuropsychological literature pe1taining to the assessment of emotion. Next, we turn to the main of. cuss of the chapter, which is a description of batteries of tests that were developed specifically to assess emotional processing in neurological populations. Then, because of the complexity of assessment in this area, we describe procedures commonly used for eliciting and evaluating emotional expression. We conclude with recommendations for future research on the neuropsychological assessment of emotion. Our focus is on adult rain-damaged and healthy aging populations and not on psychiatric and developmental issues, which are beyond the scope of this chapter. The chapter provides a compendium of emotional processing tests that can be used as a foundation for research, assessment, and rehabilitation purposes. The reader should note, however, that many of these tests are in the developmental stage and may not he commercially available.