Sociocultural factors in neuropsychological assessment

Healthcare professionals are now faced with a growing number of patients from different ethnic groups, and from different socio-economic backgrounds. In neuropsychology there is an increasing need of reliable and culturally fair assessment measures. Knowledge about variables that affect neuropsychological functioning such as age, education and culture allows both an objective assessment and an accurate diagnosis. The purpose of this review is to analyze the main variables that affect neuropsychological assessment and to describe a series of neuropsychological tests that may minimize current weaknesses in the cognitive assessment of Spanish speakers.