ABPP Clinical Neuropsychology study guide
ABPP Clinical Neuropsychology · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Board certification in Clinical Neuropsychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) is a credential for psychologists who want to be recognized as specialists in brain-behavior relationships. Candidates are typically licensed doctoral-level psychologists with postdoctoral training in neuropsychology who want to demonstrate competence beyond licensure to referrers, courts, hospitals, and the public. The ABPP Clinical Neuropsychology study guide has 9 sections and about 2,262 words.
01Foundations of Clinical Neuropsychology: Brain-Behavior Relationships, Neuroanatomy, and Neuropathology
A candidate must be able to move fluidly between structure and function: cortical zones (primary, secondary, tertiary association cortex), the lateralization of language and visuospatial skills, the organization of white-matter tracts (arcuate fasciculus, corpus callosum, cingulum), and the vascular territories that produce predictable lesion syndromes (MCA, ACA, PCA, basilar). Know the classic disconnection and cortical syndromes - conduction aphasia, Gerstmann syndrome, Balint syndrome, alien hand, callosal apraxia - and the anatomy that generates them.
300 words, about 2 min02Assessment and Diagnosis: Test Selection, Administration, Interpretation, and Differential Diagnosis
Competent assessment begins with a referral question and a hypothesis-driven battery. Know the psychometric foundations: reliability, standard error of measurement, base rates, sensitivity/specificity, and the difference between normative and ipsative comparison.
268 words, about 1 min03Neuropsychological Domains: Attention, Memory, Language, Visuospatial, Executive, Motor, and Academic Skills
Each domain has a functional architecture you must be able to describe and probe. Attention spans arousal, vigilance, selective, divided, and sustained attention.
242 words, about 1 min04Neuroimaging and Other Diagnostic Methods
Understand what each modality measures and its strengths and limits. CT is fast and best for acute hemorrhage and mass effect; MRI offers superior soft-tissue contrast, with sequences (T1, T2, FLAIR, DWI, GRE/SWI) each answering different questions.
268 words, about 1 min05Intervention and Rehabilitation: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Approaches
Rehabilitation rests on neuroplasticity, compensation, and environmental adaptation. Know the distinction between restorative (impairment-focused) and compensatory (function-focused) approaches, and when each is appropriate.
230 words, about 1 min06Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues: Consent, Confidentiality, Competence, and Forensic Roles
Ethical practice is governed by informed consent, confidentiality and its limits, competence, multiple relationships, and boundaries of role. Informed consent requires capacity, disclosure, voluntariness, and understanding - and must be tailored to cognitive impairment.
249 words, about 1 min07Research Methods, Statistics, and Evidence-Based Practice
Candidates must read research critically: study design (cross-sectional, longitudinal, case-control, RCT), threats to validity, sampling, and measurement. Know core statistics - central tendency and dispersion, correlation vs.
229 words, about 1 min08Cultural, Diversity, and Lifespan Considerations
Neuropsychological performance is shaped by culture, language, education, acculturation, and socioeconomic context. Know how test content, administration, and norms can introduce bias, and the difference between construct, method, and item bias.
244 words, about 1 min09Consultation, Supervision, and Interprofessional Practice
Consultation is a collaborative, often indirect service: the consultee (physician, team, school) retains responsibility while the consultant provides expertise. Know models of consultation (client-centered, consultee-centered, organizational) and the skills of framing questions, communicating findings, and negotiating recommendations.
232 words, about 1 min