Cluster Analysis in Neuropsychological Research Recent Applications [Hardcover]

 Cluster analysis is a multivariate classification technique that allows for identification of homogenous subgroups within diverse samples based on shared?characteristics.?In recent years, cluster analysis has been increasingly applied to psychological and neuropsychological variables to address a number of empirical questions.?This book provides an overview of cluster analysis, including statistical and methodological considerations in its application to neurobehavioral variables. First, an introduction to cluster analysis is presented that emphasizes issues of relevance to neuropsychological research, including controversies surrounding it use.?Cluster analysis is then applied to clinical disorders that do not have an associated prototypical neuropsychological profile, including traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, and health problems associated with homelessness.?In a second application, cluster analysis is used to investigate the course of normal memory development.?Finally, cluster analysis is applied to classification of brain injury severity in children and adolescents who sustained traumatic brain injury.?This book reviews the basics of cluster analysis, examines challenges to its use and applies its methods to neuropsychological research. It examines how behaviorally based subgroups within clinical entities can be related to various other neuroscience methods.

Classification and subtyping have been an important part of psychology from its earliest days, essential to personality, pathology, and other key aspects of the field. Within neuropsychology specifically, improvements in classification have led to greater accuracy in assessment, diagnosis, and approaches to treatment, with cluster analysis recently emerging as a complement or an alternative to clinical observation and to other statistics-based methods.

Cluster Analysis in Neuropsychological Research reviews the basics of cluster analysis, examines chall“%