REHABILITATION OF HIGHER MENTAL FUNCTIONS - CONTRIBUTIONS OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - COGNITIVE REHABILITATION - NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES

A review of the literature on the effectiveness of rehabilitation techniques following brain damage deficits is presented. Methodological difficulties in comparing different intervention strategies are discussed. The confusion between spontaneous recovery, functional preservation and rehabilitation of neuropsychological deficits is also discussed. Whereas neurophysiological models offer adequate explanations for the early fase of cerebral recovery, they fail to explain the ''spontaneous re-emergence of behaviors and the cognitive reorganization observed in the long term follow-up. A discussion is presented of the applications, advantages and disadvantages of the main strategies in rehabilitation such as stimulation interventions, programmed instruction, pragmatic approaches, cognitive or neuropsychological deficits. The paper is ended with a few caution words in respect of this new area and the incipient market generated by it.