PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Chiara Zucchella AU - Angela Federico AU - Alice Martini AU - Michele Tinazzi AU - Michelangelo Bartolo AU - Stefano Tamburin TI - Neuropsychological testing AID - 10.1136/practneurol-2017-001743 DP - 2018 Feb 22 TA - Practical Neurology PG - practneurol-2017-001743 4099 - http://pn.bmj.com/content/early/2018/02/22/practneurol-2017-001743.short 4100 - http://pn.bmj.com/content/early/2018/02/22/practneurol-2017-001743.full AB - Neuropsychological testing is a key diagnostic tool for assessing people with dementia and mild cognitive impairment, but can also help in other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and epilepsy. While cognitive screening tests offer gross information, detailed neuropsychological evaluation can provide data on different cognitive domains (visuospatial function, memory, attention, executive function, language and praxis) as well as neuropsychiatric and behavioural features. We should regard neuropsychological testing as an extension of the neurological examination applied to higher order cortical function, since each cognitive domain has an anatomical substrate. Ideally, neurologists should discuss the indications and results of neuropsychological assessment with a clinical neuropsychologist. This paper summarises the rationale, indications, main features, most common tests and pitfalls in neuropsychological evaluation.