Expression of aversive experience of demonstrator is aversive to other observer.　 This aversion seems to be innate.　 Common experience of the observer enhances this empathetic response.　Similarly, reinforcing property of methamphetamine is increased when other two or more mice were injected with the drug simultaneously.　On the other hand, when mice received restraint stress together with also restraint cage mates, the stress was reduced.　In this case, empathy has a kind of anti-stress effects.　Animals also showed inequality aversion but disadvantageous inequality aversion was stronger than advantageous inequality aversion.　These observations suggest that emotional state depends on social comparison with others.

Recent studies about assessment of cognition/intelligence have indicated that assumed cognitive function assessed by several tests changed from single component to several components.　Such test has the hypothesis about individual’s competence and levels of cognitive functioning so that the examiner may be informed about the relative levels of processing （strengths and weaknesses） within the individual.　These characteristics have been supported by examiners engaged assessment and intervention of cognitive profiles about children with developmental disabilities.　In this paper, we introduce the Das’s theory of intelligence of which the major components are Planning, Attention, and Simultaneous and Successive Processing （or “PASS”） based on Luria’s neuropsychology.　And we describe specific application of the model to the assessment of PASS cognitive components （the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System;DN-CAS）.　DN-CAS is a unique clinical instrument, composed of novel measures, that remains one of the few alternatives for cognitive assessment professionals seeking an alternative to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll （CHC） model of intellectual functioning, supporting the Wechsler and other tests of intelligence.

Neuropsychological assessment is a comprehensive evaluation of various cognitive skills.　This method is used to examine the cognitive dysfunction due to brain damage, brain disease, and developmental disorders.　These ability areas cover memory, attention, processing speed, reasoning, judgment, problem-solving, spatial, and language functions.　Neuropsychological assessments are usually conducted by doctoral-level psychologists trained in both the neurosciences and psychometrics, known as clinical neuropsychologists in Western countries.　However, Japanese neuropsychology has been developed mainly by neurologists and psychiatrists.　There are few practical neuropsychological tests in Japan compared with Western countries.　Although various neuropsychological tests in Western countries have been translated into Japanese and are used in clinical practice, most of them have not been standardized and their psychometric properties remain questionable.　For future development of neuropsychology in Japan, it is essential to establish new cooperative relationships between medicine and psychology that respect each other’s expertise.

Here, we analyze the findings of developmental studies conducted using neuropsychological examinations and neuropsychological studies of developmental disorders, emphasizing executive functions.

In developmental studies, clear developmental changes were observed in many test scores, and it has also been shown that the developmental trajectories varied with the scores.　The strength of the correlation between two specific test scores can change significantly depending on subject age range, and care must be taken in interpreting such results.

In studies on ADHD and PDD, not only did the scores of patient groups differ from those of control groups, the profiles of the test results differed depending on diagnostic classification.　In another study, it was possible to predict reading ability after school attendance based on multiple test scores acquired during preschool.　This suggests that the risk of other developmental disorders can be predicted during early childhood.

Issues to be addressed in the future include the development of many neuropsychological tests equipped with standard scores according to age, and the clarification of the level of cognitive function indicated by each particular score at each age.　Moreover, we should scrutinize the clinical values of neuropsychological tests by examining the susceptibility and specificity of each test.

The neuropsychological assessment is used to evaluate cognitive changes after epilepsy surgery.　Previous studies have reported the performance of verbal memory test was declined after left anterior temporal lobectomy.　In our study, the patients with left temporal lobectomy also were aware of memory decline after surgery.　The performance of neuropsychological tests should be interpreted with the patient’s subjective change of cognitive function.

Author introduced a neuropsychological assessment by a case of semantic dementia and examined its significance.　The case exhibited specific impairments of expression and understanding of languages characteristic of semantic dementia （impairments of naming and understanding）, showing that the appearance is quite different from Alzheimer type dementia based on the neuropsychological assessment.　After he was diagnosed as semantic dementia, he seemed to be able to complete the work during about ten years because of the high cognitive reserve capacity, the characteristics of the remaining language understanding, the stability of personality, sufficient explanation to the people surrounding him and enthusiasm of his family.　In psychiatric disease, taking a neuropsychological assessment is useful and important for understanding mutual understanding among medical professionals for diagnosis and treatment, and explanation to people surrounding the patient and the family.　Regarding neuropsychological assessments, it is important to incorporate qualitative information obtained from clinical observations and to apply many accumulations of neuropsychology in clinical practice.

In this educational course, we provide results from neuropathological analyses of four autopsy cases of supercentenarians.　Three cases were characterized as an “intermediate” level of Alzheimer’s disease changes and one was characterized as primary age-related tauopathy.　Neither Lewy body pathology nor hippocampal sclerosis was observed.　Aging-related tau astrogliopathy was consistently observed, particularly in the basal forebrain.　Small vessel diseases were also present, but they were relatively mild for cerebral amyloid-beta angiopathy and arteriosclerosis.　Since TDP-43 deposits were present in the hippocampus in two cases, they were classified as cerebral age-related TDP-43 pathology and arteriolosclerosis （CARTS）.　Future studies of supercentenarians may warrant to understand the mechanisms of human longevity.

Various types of aberrant social behaviors may occur after brain injury.　Apathy, disinhibition, and executive dysfunction are the three major domains of aberrant social behaviors after injury of the prefrontal cortex and its associated subcortical structures.　It is proposed that these three domains are specifically associated with medial prefrontal, orbitofrontal, and dorsolateral prefrontal injury, respectively.　However, clinico-anatomical correlations are not always clear in many patients, especially in those after traumatic brain injury.　It is important to evaluate aberrant social behaviors in a real-life setting.　The primary goal of rehabilitation should be to acquire practical abilities needed in real life.