For example, I know testing is generally not considered helpful for diagnosing ADHD. What are situations/conditions, etc. when it is considered much more useful? What are situations in which it's fairly pointless and unnecessary to be consulting neuropsych vs. times when it's particularly valuable?

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the r/Neuropsychology weekly education, training, and professional development megathread. The subreddit gets a large proportion of incoming content dedicated to questions related to the schooling and professional life of neuropsychologists. Most of these questions can be answered by browsing the subreddit function; however, we still get many posts with very specific and individualized questions (often related to coursework, graduate programs, lab research etc.).

Often these individualized questions are important...but usually only to the OP given how specific and individualized they are. Because of this, these types of posts are automatically removed as they don't further the overarching goal of the subreddit in promoting high-quality discussion and information related to the field of neuropsychology. The mod team has been brainstorming a way to balance these two dilemmas, this recurring megathread will be open every end for a limited time to ask any question related to education, or other aspects of professional development in the field of neuropsychology. In addition to that, we've compiled (and will continue to gather) a list of quick Q/A's from past posts and general resources below as well.

So here it is! General, specific, high quality, low quality - it doesn't matter! As long as it is, in some way, related to the training and professional life of neuropsychologists, it's fair game to ask - as long as it's contained to this megathread! And all you wonderful subscribers can fee free to answer these questions as they appear. The post will remain sticked for visibility and we encourage everyone to sort by new to find the latest questions and answers.

Also, here are some more common general questions and their answers that have crossed the sub over the years:

1. “Neuropsychologists of reddit, what was the path you took to get your job, and what advice do you have for someone who is considering becoming a neuropsychologist?”
2. ”Is anyone willing to describe a day in your life as a neuropsychologist/what personality is suited for this career?”
3. "What's the path to becoming a neuropsychologist"
4. "IAMA Neuropsychology Graduate in the EU, AMA"
5. "List of Neuropsychology Programs in the USA"
6. "Should I get a Masters Before I get my PhD?"
7. Neuropsychology with a non-clinical doctorate?
8. Education for a psychometrist
9. Becoming a neuropsychologist in the EU
10. Do I have to get into a program with a neuropsychology track?
11. How do I become a pediatric neuropsychologist?
12. "What type of research should I do before joining a PhD program in Neuropsychology?"
13. "What are good technical skills for a career in neuropsychology?"
14. "What undergraduate degree should I have to pursue neuropsychology?"
15. FAQ's and General Information about Neuropsychology
16. The Houston Conference Guidelines on Specialty Education and Training in Clinical Neuropsychology

Stay classy r/Neuropsychology!

Let’s say you watch POV videos of someone who is at a social gathering and it really feels like as if you were this person and you do this on a daily basis (every morning and evening). Could this actually make a not so social person more social or diminish social anxiety? I don’t think there are studies on this but I’d love to hear what you guys think about it.

Hey again,

This is a repost. The mods determined my original post had not pertained enough to psychology or neurocognition. I'll try and fix that now...

For the past couple of years I've been working on developing a framework for behaviorally interfacing human psychology with machine psychology, by modelling an architectural approach on that of human neurocognition.

I'm about 100 pages into the actual framework now, but what I have attached below is the abstract and preface of that paper (about 7 pages).

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11F3oephMX4-n94vXX-3xrZvOzkO3oB6b0aeQ5oIa6sc/edit?usp=sharing

My questions to the community are such:

1.) Do differences in neurological structure give rise to differences in personality and behavior? If so, what are your thoughts on the systems outlined out in the above document?

2.) Do you think human psychology can be approximated on non-biological substrates? If not, what about our psychology makes it inherently carbon-centric?

3.) My approach in the paper is that systemic preferentialism gives rise to an individuals base-line persona (their personality-as divorced from time and environment). I've included biological homologues for each of these systems (that I suspect) contribute to this overlying psychology. I'm curious to know your thoughts on these structures, their neurocognitive functioning, and their overall impact on our broader psychology. (You can find the relevant information towards the documents end, in a section labeled "The Systems and their Working Definitions")

4.) I'd also be curious to know your thoughts on genetic influence upon neurological development. Its not really a subject touched on by the paper, but I have wondered, and would love to know your thoughts on the subject.

Lastly, please don't feel beholden to the above questions. I'm open to any/all discussion. If I have something blatantly wrong in the document, don't hesitate to call me out on it. Making (and correcting) mistakes are one of the best ways we can learn. Anyhow, I want to thank you for your time.

​

​

Until then,

A Humble Traveller

​

Where in the brain do binaural beats occur?

Hey guys! I was doing some research and would really appreciate to know in which specific part of the brain binaural beats take place. I've read information on different sources and some say in the cortex, some say in the superior olivary complex, and one says in the Inferior Colliculus. Which of these is correct?

Please provide sources where I can read on this too

I understand the basics of how the brain stores implicit memories during emotionally charged events. I'm finding it difficult to find information on how it stores these memories when, at the time when it was stored, there were two conflicting messages received. For example, if a young child learns from mom to behave one way and from dad to behave a different way simultaneously. Is memory stored the same as with non-conflicting messages? Does the brain render this as unstable and choose to do something different with it?

I work mostly with dementia. Wondering what others recommend. I generally say at least one year with +/- depending on suspected etiology, but am realizing it’s an arbitrary number I picked up in training.

Hi! I'm trying to understand the lifecycle of dopamine and the timeframes.

so heres my questions:

1. How long does it take for dopamine to be created/synthesized in the body after the ingredients for it are absorbed? (if variable, tell the average time)

2. How long does it take for newly created dopamine to reach... a storage for dopamine?

3. Does this newly created dopamine have a limit on how soon it can be released?

now the topic shifts more towards how dopamine depletion, and dopamine stimulation works.

4. in a normal healthy human being, how limited is our storage of raw dopamine(the chemical not the act of it being released)

5. Is it limited enough where its likely for us to literally run out of dopamine during the day if we release too much? (lets say... a marathon runner... can they use up all of their dopamine on a single race?)

6. Does all release of dopamine result in motivation or is it only certain receptors that cause motivation? (This doesn't have to be "good feeling" motivation, but it can be stressful or fearful.)

7. If there was one thing you wish you could tell productivity youtubers they constantly get wrong abt dopamine, what is it? (dont mention the detox concept)

A lot of people talk about how the age of criminal responsibility should be 21 or some other arbitrary number but is there any merit to such claims from a neuro or psych perspective ?

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the r/Neuropsychology weekly education, training, and professional development megathread. The subreddit gets a large proportion of incoming content dedicated to questions related to the schooling and professional life of neuropsychologists. Most of these questions can be answered by browsing the subreddit function; however, we still get many posts with very specific and individualized questions (often related to coursework, graduate programs, lab research etc.).

Often these individualized questions are important...but usually only to the OP given how specific and individualized they are. Because of this, these types of posts are automatically removed as they don't further the overarching goal of the subreddit in promoting high-quality discussion and information related to the field of neuropsychology. The mod team has been brainstorming a way to balance these two dilemmas, this recurring megathread will be open every end for a limited time to ask any question related to education, or other aspects of professional development in the field of neuropsychology. In addition to that, we've compiled (and will continue to gather) a list of quick Q/A's from past posts and general resources below as well.

So here it is! General, specific, high quality, low quality - it doesn't matter! As long as it is, in some way, related to the training and professional life of neuropsychologists, it's fair game to ask - as long as it's contained to this megathread! And all you wonderful subscribers can fee free to answer these questions as they appear. The post will remain sticked for visibility and we encourage everyone to sort by new to find the latest questions and answers.

Also, here are some more common general questions and their answers that have crossed the sub over the years:

1. “Neuropsychologists of reddit, what was the path you took to get your job, and what advice do you have for someone who is considering becoming a neuropsychologist?”
2. ”Is anyone willing to describe a day in your life as a neuropsychologist/what personality is suited for this career?”
3. "What's the path to becoming a neuropsychologist"
4. "IAMA Neuropsychology Graduate in the EU, AMA"
5. "List of Neuropsychology Programs in the USA"
6. "Should I get a Masters Before I get my PhD?"
7. Neuropsychology with a non-clinical doctorate?
8. Education for a psychometrist
9. Becoming a neuropsychologist in the EU
10. Do I have to get into a program with a neuropsychology track?
11. How do I become a pediatric neuropsychologist?
12. "What type of research should I do before joining a PhD program in Neuropsychology?"
13. "What are good technical skills for a career in neuropsychology?"
14. "What undergraduate degree should I have to pursue neuropsychology?"
15. FAQ's and General Information about Neuropsychology
16. The Houston Conference Guidelines on Specialty Education and Training in Clinical Neuropsychology

Stay classy r/Neuropsychology!

[USA based]

Hi, I was hoping to gain some insight into other reasonable pathways outside of a PhD in clinical psych. The PhD is a huge goal of mine, but if I don't get in after a few rounds, I think I'll throw the hat in. I'm going to detail the specifics of the things I'd like to do for my career/after school in descending importance to me. If anyone has any insights into alternative paths for me given my interests, I'd love to hear them:

1. First and foremost, I love the flexibility that a clinical psych. PhD would offer me. Right now, I really see myself working in a psychiatric unit of a hospital as a clinical psychologist (ultimately a neuropsychologist), and doing research on a mix of neurobiology of schizophrenia, clinical intervention, and program outcomes. I'd love to help launch different mental health programs that could steer away some patients from traumatizing involuntarily holds.
2. Again, with the flexibility, I love that there's an option to go into private practice, work in a clinic, etc. I'd love to be apart of neuropsychology exams and in a care team of sorts for psychotic patients from a neuropsychology perspective, - ruling out differential diagnosis, setting up a routine for them, check ins etc, - even if I can't be the one given formal assessments.
3. I'm interested in research of schizophrenia, I was hoping to split my time clinically and in research. I would love to come up with my own experiments, but I'm also more than happy working below a PI to help them if I think its important research.
4. Lastly, I'd love the opportunity to teach one day. This seems pretty much off the table without a PhD, but I really enjoyed being a TA, I'd be great to be able to do it one day.

Thank you very much.

Firstly, if there is any subreddit where this question is better asked, please guide me to it :)

I have always wondered what the neuro-science/chemistry behind autism is. With a number of other neurodivergencies, the science behind how they ‘work’ - and which neurotransmitters are implicated - is (somewhat) clear. For example, in people with ADHD, there can be summarily described as a dysfunction of dopamine and norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex. As a result, drugs that boost dopamine + NE production/inhibit their reuptake are prescribed, which temporarily ‘correct’ this dysfunction.

I have been unable to find conclusive information on what is deficient/dysfunctional in autistic brains. I’ve seen the BH4 pathway - and thus serotonin/glutamate imbalances - implicated. But I’ve also seen nearly all neurotransmitters including dopamine theorised as having a role to play in autism, so I’m lead to think the answer is “we’re not sure”.

I’m asking as a diagnosed AuDHD interested in how neurochemistry shapes neurodivergency.

Thanks in advance.

Context: I have ADHD and I asked the first question years ago to my elderly neuropsychologist after an evaluation and he gave me a blunt “no”—and so I left it alone. Now I have at least a layman’s understanding of neuropsych, neuroanatomy, ADHD, etc. so I thought I’d ask again.

Is there any possibility that one can reduce the severity of executive functioning impairments through long-term, direct stimulation of those faculties?

Example: If, for years, I take rotating, varying Stroop tests and implement a rigorous, advanced meditation regimen (1-2 hours a day, and not just the usual attentional recentering/self-monitoring, but meditation that concurrently challenges working memory, inhibition, flexibility, perseverance, etc. like Vipassana, or Zen meditation)—could I ever possibly expect ‘generalizable’ executive function improvements?

Edited: With some inconclusive evidence that meditation can increase white matter + connectivity in regions like the corpus collosum and anterior cingulate, is it possible to compensate for the abnormalities often found in ADHD brains? (like dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, temporal lobes, etc.)

I know Clinical Psychologists are in extremely high demand, is it the same thing with Neuro? I’ve heard mixed responses. I’m looking to apply for programs soon. Also: as far as salary goes…I’ve seen some positions online ranging from $80k-$200k+ USD.

Sorry if this isn’t a great question, I’m just looking for Neuropsychologists to talk to about the field.

Edit: it takes 11ish years to become a neuropsychologist. I wanna see if the salary is worth it from a students perspective.

Hi does anybody know of any handy references to quickly look up medications that could be contributing to negative cognitive side effects? Thanks!

also what's the min and max salary for a neuropsychologist in Canada?

Hi, I imagine some of you work with psychometrists, especially those of you who work in clinical neuropsychology. What are your views about someone making a career out of administering tests as a psychometrist? Do you see it being taken over in the near future by AI, leaving only the interpretation of tests to psychologists?

Thank you.

It's very difficult to google info about this particular profession. I always just get funneled into articles about therapists, psychologists in general, or these auto-generated articles that just shove the word "neuropsychology" into every other sentence but tell me nothing. The BLS does not have a profile for Neuropsychologists.

I am interested in neuropsychology because I work in neuroscience research, I do not want to become a doctor, but I'm interested in working in a hospital and seeing patients (specifically w/ TBI). I also love research and would love to teach (post-secondary).

My questions are - how plentiful/sparce are the neuropsychologist job openings? How do you think this will look in 10 years? How do you think it will compare to jobs in academia (professorships)? And lastly, I am pretty uninterested in working with neurodegenerative disease or stroke. How feasible is it to pursue a career as a TBI specialist in neuropsychology, working mostly with that population?

Thx!!!

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to the r/Neuropsychology weekly education, training, and professional development megathread. The subreddit gets a large proportion of incoming content dedicated to questions related to the schooling and professional life of neuropsychologists. Most of these questions can be answered by browsing the subreddit function; however, we still get many posts with very specific and individualized questions (often related to coursework, graduate programs, lab research etc.).

Often these individualized questions are important...but usually only to the OP given how specific and individualized they are. Because of this, these types of posts are automatically removed as they don't further the overarching goal of the subreddit in promoting high-quality discussion and information related to the field of neuropsychology. The mod team has been brainstorming a way to balance these two dilemmas, this recurring megathread will be open every end for a limited time to ask any question related to education, or other aspects of professional development in the field of neuropsychology. In addition to that, we've compiled (and will continue to gather) a list of quick Q/A's from past posts and general resources below as well.

So here it is! General, specific, high quality, low quality - it doesn't matter! As long as it is, in some way, related to the training and professional life of neuropsychologists, it's fair game to ask - as long as it's contained to this megathread! And all you wonderful subscribers can fee free to answer these questions as they appear. The post will remain sticked for visibility and we encourage everyone to sort by new to find the latest questions and answers.

Also, here are some more common general questions and their answers that have crossed the sub over the years:

1. “Neuropsychologists of reddit, what was the path you took to get your job, and what advice do you have for someone who is considering becoming a neuropsychologist?”
2. ”Is anyone willing to describe a day in your life as a neuropsychologist/what personality is suited for this career?”
3. "What's the path to becoming a neuropsychologist"
4. "IAMA Neuropsychology Graduate in the EU, AMA"
5. "List of Neuropsychology Programs in the USA"
6. "Should I get a Masters Before I get my PhD?"
7. Neuropsychology with a non-clinical doctorate?
8. Education for a psychometrist
9. Becoming a neuropsychologist in the EU
10. Do I have to get into a program with a neuropsychology track?
11. How do I become a pediatric neuropsychologist?
12. "What type of research should I do before joining a PhD program in Neuropsychology?"
13. "What are good technical skills for a career in neuropsychology?"
14. "What undergraduate degree should I have to pursue neuropsychology?"
15. FAQ's and General Information about Neuropsychology
16. The Houston Conference Guidelines on Specialty Education and Training in Clinical Neuropsychology

Stay classy r/Neuropsychology!

I have seen research and know some neuropsychologist that incorporate it into their practice. What is the general consensus?

Hello guys 👋 Graduating in a few months as a clinical neuropsychologist in Europe. I’d love to get to know more about virtual reality and its place in clinical neuropsychology: both in cognitive evaluation and rehabilitation. Iv read some French/Belgium littérature about it, and here it is not very popular (yet). I am sure this is the future of clinical neuropsychology. What do you guys think? Has anyone ever worked with this sort of technology?

This 2022 study [https://rdcu.be/dCL0N] conducted autopsies on people who had previously had a Covid infection. They found the virus in brain tissue up to 7 months after infection.

Here's the abstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is known to cause multi-organ dysfunction during acute infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with some patients experiencing prolonged symptoms, termed post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. However, the burden of infection outside the respiratory tract and time to viral clearance are not well characterized, particularly in the brain. Here we carried out complete autopsies on 44 patients who died with COVID-19, with extensive sampling of the central nervous system in 11 of these patients, to map and quantify the distribution, replication and cell-type specificity of SARS-CoV-2 across the human body, including the brain, from acute infection to more than seven months following symptom onset. We show that SARS-CoV-2 is widely distributed, predominantly among patients who died with severe COVID-19, and that virus replication is present in multiple respiratory and non-respiratory tissues, including the brain, early in infection. Further, we detected persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA in multiple anatomic sites, including throughout the brain, as late as 230 days following symptom onset in one case. Despite extensive distribution of SARS-CoV-2 RNA throughout the body, we observed little evidence of inflammation or direct viral cytopathology outside the respiratory tract. Our data indicate that in some patients SARS-CoV-2 can cause systemic infection and persist in the body for months.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This raised some questions for me:

• I've seen a lot of discussion around how repeated infections can cause accumulative risk of long-covid. Could the persistence of the virus I'm tissue explain this? Could each new infection potentially be adding an additional layer of virus in our tissue?
• The sample was mostly "older unvaccinated individuals with pre-existing medical conditions who died from severe COVID-19." I wonder if the virus would persist in younger / vaccinated people. Would viral persistence be less likely, or would they simply be less likely to have noticeable symptoms?"

I'd love to hear people's thoughts

Hi experts,

In my fMRI experiment, two conditions were compared: a high disgust condition and a low disgust condition. The high disgust condition involved presenting participants with disgusting images, while the low disgust condition presented the same images but with the disgusting elements digitally removed. During fMRI scanning, participants passively viewed stimuli from both conditions. After scanning, participants rated the level of disgust for each set of stimuli on a scale of 0 to 10.

Three results were observed:

1. The disgust ratings for the high disgust condition were significantly higher than those for the low disgust condition, with ratings close to 10 for the high disgust condition and close to 0 for the low disgust condition.
2. Beta values in a specific brain region were significantly higher (t-test) for the low disgust condition than for the high disgust condition, consistent with existing references indicating a response to this type of digital image processing.
3. When examining the relationship (Pearson correlation) between the difference in activation (beta values: high disgust condition - low disgust condition) of this region and the difference in ratings (high disgust condition rating - low disgust condition rating) across all participants, a significant positive correlation was found. Almost all activation differences were negative, while rating differences were positive.

On one hand, from the perspective of activation, this brain region appears to respond more strongly to the low disgust condition. On the other hand, from a correlation standpoint, it exhibits the opposite effect.

How can these results be interpreted?

Thank you!

Hello, I have a small curiosity and I think this sub might be the best one to answer. To put it shortly I am curious if our mood influences the music we listen to at a specific moment, or if it's the other way around.

The two terms seem to be used interchangeably 🤔 I'm trying to write an essay where I'm discussing seizure activity in this region and am just wondering if there is a distinction between the two terms or does it not matter?

I would eventually like to become a neuropsychologist in the US (undergrad in Germany, currently working on a master in neuropsychology in Italy). I've seen how competitive programs are and I'm worried I won't get in. What are some less selective programs? Or am I just kidding myself. I love the field but am NOT a top student. Ideas for work if I don't get accepted?

Was just introduced to predictive processing through Andy Clark and other vids. Once I finally felt like I understood it, I had a thought. Would it be possible for a complete direct present experience to break through the model that your brain has of the world? Would this explain “aha moments”? Or extreme feelings of awe? Like you’re seeing the world as it is for the first time? To take it a step further, are there people in the world who have “enough brain power” to supersede the predictive processing model and always experience reality directly?

I’m aware of the brains literal incompetency to process all present info at once but just hypothetically I would like to hear everyone’s thoughts and start discussions. thanks :)

I've been thinking about this for a while and wanted to know if a neuropsychologist would always be working with a neurologist in all sorts of brain damages or are they called in only for certain cases?

Last year, I had a consultation for neurophysiological testing due to short term memory impairment. During our consultation the doctor mentioned two things that stood out to me.

1. Do you find your anxiety doesn't improve despite trying different medications and 2. He mentioned ruling out dementia. Unfortunately due to issues with insurance I have to be seen at my states medical university. I was hoping to ask the doctor these questions, but I will not be seeing him again. I won't be able to be seen at the medical hospital until November. Does anyone know anything about the connection between anxiety that is unresponsive to treatment and cognitive issues?

Edit: I forgot to mention I have had two head injuries when I was a child, but wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until my 30’s. ADHD meds don’t improve memory and I still lose focus.