The Assessment of Cognitive Function for Use in Education

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Abstract
The dichotomy of cognitive function attributed to the right and left hemisphere of the brain is gaining popularity in its prospect for explaining learning disabilities, for application to classroom instruction and for new directions in education. While it is heartening to have one major field, education, benefit from the empirical endeavors of another, neuropsychology, the specter of over-simplification and worse, exploitation, has risen as a byproduct of success. There are many positive signs that new insights to brain functions and organization will guide the teaching of our children and the remediation of educationally handicapped. But implications have been drawn before all the evidence is in. Research has provided lists of functions attributed to the left cerebral hemisphere such as “verbal,” “sequential,” “propositional,” or “time dependent” and to the right hemisphere such as “spatial,” “synthetic,” “appositional,” or “non-temporal.” The transgression occurs in trying to explain and predict behavior by extrapolation from those terms without really understanding the evidence giving rise to them. Such “armchair” philosophy leads to errors and distortion. The impact of neuropsychology on education is potentially rewarding, but scientific method of trial and evaluation must prevail to prevent discredit of both neuropsychology itself and those who seek to apply it to education. Our intention in this article is not to be exhaustive, but to outline the basis of our knowledge of hemispheric function, relate some of the first steps in its application to education, and highlight the implications and directions for further study.