Cultural and linguistic factors in assessment.

Abstract

Neuropsychological assessment (NA) evaluates the functional integ rity of the brain to inform clinicians' opinions regarding differential diagnosis and functional abilities and provide them with a basis for recommendations to enhance quality of life. The assessment is typi cally based upon a clinical interview (which gathers information about an individual's premorbid functioning and progression of behav iors and symptoms associated with neurological or psychiatric dis orders) and neurocognitive testing (NT).Although both the interview and testing components of the neuropsychological assessment process (NAP) are common experi ences for "Westerners" (i.e., individuals from North American majority cultures), these experiences may not be familiar to individuals from nonWestern cultures. For example, being alone with a stranger who is asking personal questions about you and your family is not a common or comfortable experience for people in many Latin Ameri can countries (Ardila, 2007). Similarly, NT, which is generally assumed to be objective, is in actuality based on the values, behavioral norms,