The distinctive character of neuropsychological assessment lies in a conceptual frame of reference that takes brain function as its point of departure

M.D. Lezak, D.B. Howieson, D. W. Loring, H.J. Hannay, J.S. Fischer, Neuropsychological Assessment, Oxford University Press, 2004.

"The neurologist examines the strength, efficiency, reactivity, and appropriateness of the patient's responses to commands, questions, discrete stimulation of particular neural subsystems, and challenges to specific muscle groups and motor patterns. … In the neurological examination of behavior, the clinician reviews behavior patterns generated by neuroanatomical subsystems, measuring patients' responses in relatively coarse graduations or nothing their absence. ... Neuropsychological assessment is another method of examining the brain by studying its behavioural product. Since the subject matter of neuropsychological assessment is behavior, it relies on many of the same techniques, assumptions, and theories as does psychological assessment. Also like psychological assessment, neuropsychological assessment involves the intensive study of behavior by means of interviews and standardized scaled tests and questionnaires that provide relatively precise and sensitive indices of behavior. The distinctive character of neuropsychological assessment lies in a conceptual frame of reference that takes brain function as its point of departure. Regardless of whether a behavioral study is undertaken for clinical or research purposes, it is neuropsychological so long as the questions that prompted it, the central issues, the findings, or the inferences drawn from them ultimately relate to brain function".