198 brain-damaged psychiatric patients and 70 normal controls (mean age 40 yrs) completed the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) to determine whether test items that theoretically use similar regions of the brain would show intercorrelations consistent with the expected relationships. Results suggest that the Intellectual Processes scale of the LNNB is highly sensitive to disorders in both hemispheres, although it is more sensitive to left-hemisphere disorders due to its dependence on speech and language functioning. However, the determination of laterality must be made by investigation of the specific items to see if those initial items that are right-hemisphere oriented suggest intact visual interpretation skills. The interaction of separate areas of the brain in different tasks is discussed, and it is concluded that correlational analysis of LNNB scores offers a more qualitative and intuitive understanding of an individual's dysfunction. (18 ref)