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A significant number of people held within the secure forensic hospital estate in this country suffer from neuropsychological deficits (e.g. Lowings, 2010; Williams et al., 2010). These deficits, many of them cognitive, have a detrimental impact on patient's abilities to benefit from psycho-educational materials thereby slowing the progress of their rehabilitation. Understanding these difficulties enables interventions to be more effectively targeted and facilitated to the patients’ cognitive strengths. It was against the backdrop of the evidence that a review was commissioned into neuropsychological activity at Rampton Hospital.

The review of the neuropsychological assessment activity was confined to the male patients residing within Mental Health Services (MHS) and the National High Secure Learning Disability Service (NHSLDS) of the hospital. With regards to the MHS, 129 patient files were examined in order to identify the volume of neuropsychological assessment previously undertaken and the make up of the neuropsychological test batteries administered with the current patient group. With regard to the NHSLDS 48 files were similarly examined. In addition, MHS psychologists were surveyed to assess their knowledge of patients within that service who to their knowledge had previously suffered an acquired brain injury (ABI) or had suffered a significant neurological illness likely to have resulted in cognitive impairment.

A scoping exercise identified that a significant amount of neuropsychological assessment was being undertaken, albeit in an unstructured way. This led to a number of patients being subjected to a significant delay before the need for neuropsychological testing and rehabilitation possibilities became apparent. There was a huge variance on when a patient was tested ranging from one month to 14 years and the size of the test battery used, with the number of tests conducted per patient ranging between one single test to 16 tests during a patients stay at the hospital.

Opportunities to more appropriately place patients based upon their abilities could be achieved if the hospital were to adopt a policy of conducting neuropsychological assessments, including cognitive functioning, for all patients upon admission to the hospital. A proportion of patients were known to have had a ABI or a significant illness likely to have resulted in cognitive impairment. This was considered to be an underrepresentation and the taking of a thorough history specifically covering ABI and specific illnesses known to have an impact on cognitive ability and behaviour was also recommended.

In light of this review, services are to take a more systematic approach to assessing neuropsychological difficulties. Consideration is being given to neuropsychological screening becoming part of the admission process.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between neuropsychological functioning as assessed following admission to a high secure psychiatric care (HSPC) hospital and subsequent time spent in long-term segregation (LTS). Evidence from forensic populations suggests neuropsychological functioning difficulties can increase vulnerability to interpersonal violence. However, the impact of this relationship on restrictive interventions used in these settings is poorly understood.

This study quantitatively examined the neuropsychological profiles of 80 male HSPC patients as assessed during routine admission assessments, comparing data against any subsequent LTS duration during a one-year period, and a non-LTS control (n = 27).

Analysis found individuals who were willing and able to complete a routine neuropsychological admissions assessment spent significantly less time in LTS than those unable to complete the assessment. Performance within a test of novel problem solving (Key Search Test) was significantly worse in the LTS group than controls. Performance within a visual memory task (Immediate Recall section of the Rey Complex Figure Test) significantly correlated with LTS duration. Additional findings suggest the absence of self-reported planning difficulties as measured by a Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) negatively correlated with LTS duration, while self-reported restlessness was positively correlated with LTS.

This has implications for early assessment of LTS risk and potential use of cognitive interventions to reduce the use of restrictive practices.

The results suggest some aspects of neuropsychological performance as assessed during admission to a HSPC hospital appear to be related to subsequent time spent in LTS.

Many people within secure forensic settings are expected to take part in psycho‐educational programmes as part of their treatment and rehabilitation. Many are hampered in their progress due to cognitive difficulties. This paper aims to outline the scale of the problem and to offer potential solutions.

The numbers of people who are placed in secure settings with known neuropsychological difficulties and the range of their cognitive problems are explored. It is proposed that individual education plans based on neuropsychological profiles together with guidance on the preparation and delivery of educational materials could improve the efficacy of psycho‐educational programmes.

Many people within the secure forensic estate have neuropsychological deficits. Many have suffered traumatic or other acquired brain injury or have deficits associated with substance misuse or even childhood emotional trauma. Others have cognitive difficulties specific to their mental health and occasionally their prescribed medication. A significant number will have intellectual disability (IQ<70) or be within the borderline range (IQ between 70 and 79).

Understanding neuropsychological difficulties would mean that best use is made of the psycho‐educational materials presented, thus speeding up and improving the efficacy of the rehabilitation process and potentially reducing the risk that the person poses to themselves and others. There are resources, which offer guidance to teachers of children with neuropsychological difficulties but not for the adolescent and adult forensic population. This paper addresses this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possibility and necessity of using grey system theory in neuropsychological studies.

The paper employs a logical analysis approach.

There are three characteristics of neuropsychological studies: the particularity of the study subjects; the specialty of the study scheme; and insufficient data from traditional statistical methods. Grey system theory is appropriate for analyzing the data collected in neuropsychological studies.

After several years' significant development, grey system theory has been applied in various subjects successfully. However, the application in psychology and medicine is still a rarity.

For many years it has been speculated that some learning and attention problems in children are related to underlying problems in neurological functioning. In fact, the IDEA (1997) definition of learning disabilities utilizes terminology that specifically includes neurological processes and conditions: Specific learning disabilities means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.This chapter begins with a review of the role of neuroimaging in advancing an understanding of the basis and nature of learning and attention problems. The ever-increasing sophistication of neurodiagnostic technology has made it possible to obtain more precise information about neuroanatomical and neurophysiological bases of behavior, including learning and attention. Advances in technology have greatly increased the ability to study the functioning of the brain during the performance of relatively complex mental activities. With this advanced technology it is becoming increasingly possible to visualize normal and abnormal brain functioning, including important components of basic academic skills. The chapter includes a discussion of the recent evidence about the neurological basis of learning and attention problems.

Neuromarketing is a science that can examine human subconscious decisions and activities. The study aimed to investigate the neuropsychological responses of consumers to promotion strategies and the decision to buy sports products, in order to determine the more effective strategy.

An experimental design clarifies whether there is a significant difference between the neuropsychological responses resulting from selective promotional strategies (charity, endorsement, advertising and discount). The authors conducted the research with 40 young adults (20 males and 20 females; age range 25–35 years). The Enobio 20-channel electroencephalograph (EEG) is used to record waves, a two-item questionnaire is used to measure purchasing decisions and self-assessment forms are used to measure arousal and pleasure. Data analysis performed by Friedman's statistical methods and logistic regression using SPSS 22 software.

Based on the alpha wave, the results showed the two charity and endorsement strategies had the highest effect on consumer attentions. The pleasure had the highest value in the discount, and the arousal had the highest value in the charity strategy. Neuropsychological responses also explain a significant percentage of the consumer decision to buy.

Access to research samples is difficult due to the ignorance of the samples as well as the fear of possible harm from imaging and brain scanning methods.

Neuromarketing is a science that can examine human subconscious decisions and activities.

The information obtained neural methods are more accurate than traditional research methods.

This study showed the alpha brainwave (attention), arousal and pleasure explain a significant part of the consumer decision to buy. More scientific data can be obtained through new scientific approaches such as neuromarketing, which has a great impact on understanding consumer behavior. Therefore, marketers and researchers can make their promotional activities more effective in terms of them.

The existence of neuropsychological deficits associated with antisocial behaviour has received considerable attention. The pilot study investigates the cognitive impairments in a sample 9‐17 years old with suspected or previously diagnosed intellectual disability and/or neurodevelopmental disorders referred to a tier 4 CAMHS service in South East London. This paper aims to present the preliminary findings from the study.

In total, 28 participants between the ages of nine and 16 years, who had been referred to a tier 4 South London Forensic CAMHS, were administered selected subtests to assess intellectual, executive and social functioning using the WISC IV/WAIS IV, NEPSY II and DKEFS. Descriptive and non‐parametric statistics were used to describe the sample and identify neuropsychological deficits.

Consistent with previous research participants FSIQ and VCI were lower than the general population mean and young people identified as being high risk on the SAVRY were more impaired than those assigned to the lower risk group. The results also identified neuropsychological deficits in behavioural inhibition, cognitive flexibility, problem solving and processing fear but spared cognitive inhibition, general social processing and non‐verbal reasoning.

These preliminary findings serve as a platform for better understanding the neuropsychological functioning of the young people referred to the clinic and in the future it is hoped that the data will be used to evaluate cognitive rehabilitation adjuncts to established interventions provided by the service.

Modern healthcare services are commonly based on shared models of care, in which a strong emphasis is placed upon the views of those in receipt of services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the parents’ experiences of their child’s neuropsychological assessment.

This was a mixed-methodology study employing both quantitative and qualitative measures.

The questionnaire measure indicated a high overall level of satisfaction. Qualitative analysis of parental interviews provided a richer insight into the parental experience and indicated four major themes.

Implications covered three major areas. Firstly, whilst a high value was placed upon the assessment, the need for further comprehensive neurorehabilitation and intervention was highlighted. Secondly, this study highlights the significant adversity experienced by such families and subsequent unmet psychological needs which also require consideration. Finally, findings from the current study could assist in improving future measures of satisfaction in similar services.

This is the first published study of parental experiences of and satisfaction with paediatric neuropsychological assessment in the UK.

Needs of people following acquired brain injury vary over their life-course presenting challenges for community services, especially for those with “hidden” neuropsychological needs. Characterisation of subtypes of rehabilitation service user may help improve service design towards optimal targeting of resources. This paper aims to characterise a neuropsychologically complex group of service users.

Preliminary data from 35 participants accepted for a holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation day programme were subject to cluster analysis using self-ratings of mood, executive function and brain injury symptomatology.

Analysis identified three clusters significantly differentiated in terms of symptom severity (Cluster 1 least and Cluster 2 most severe), self-esteem (Clusters 2 and 3 low self-esteem) and mood (Cluster 2 more anxious and depressed). The three clusters were then compared on characteristics including age at injury, type of injury, chronicity of problems, presence of pre-injury problems and completion of rehabilitation. Cluster 2 were significantly younger at time of injury, and all had head injury.

Results suggest different subgroups of neuropsychological rehabilitation service user, highlighting the importance of early identification and provision of rehabilitation to prevent deterioration, especially for those injured when young. Implications for design of, and research into, community rehabilitation service design for those with “hidden disability” are considered.

The paper findings suggests that innovative conceptual frameworks for understanding potentially complex longer term outcomes are required to enable development of tools for triaging and efficient allocation of community service resources.

The paper aims to give an introduction into symptom validity assessment (SVA) to non‐experts in the field of neuropsychology.

The analysis is based on the knowledge of the progress in this field which can be conceived as one of the most prolific developments in forensic neuropsychological assessment.

By its very nature, clinical neuropsychology is a data‐driven discipline, both on the level of single‐case assessment and in research. In forensic contexts where secondary gain is immanent, uncooperativeness and malingering may threaten the integrity of data, so much so that no valid conclusions may be drawn from the data.

In the last 20 years, clinical and forensic neuropsychologists have been more prominent in the development of methods to detect response distortions and to identify malingering than any other profession. In forensic contexts, neuropsychological evaluations without SVA must be considered incomplete. Clinically and forensically working psychologists should strive to have a thorough knowledge of symptom validity assessment.