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C Luzzatti

Publications and source records attributed to C Luzzatti.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Intelligence and left hemisphere disease. The role of aphasia, apraxia and size of lesion.

The Raven Progressive Matrices and four subtests of the Wechsler-Bellevue Performance Scale were given to 173 left hemisphere patients subdivided according to presence/absence, type (fluent/non-fluent) and severity (moderate/severe) of aphasia. Constructive and ideomotor apraxia scores and CT scan data of each subject entered the statistical analysis. Factors significant in producing a low score on Progressive Matrices and Wechsler-Bellevue were presence of aphasia and constructive apraxia. Site and size of lesion per se failed to account for the intelligence scores. The relationship between aphasia, apraxia, intelligence test scores, and CT scan data were discussed in an attempt to clarify the meaning of these low intelligence test scores in aphasics and to assess the underlying roles of the brain lesions in this deficit. It appears that there are a number of methodological difficulties complicating interpretation of the intellectual deficit based on the Progressive Matrices and Wechsler-Bellevue scores, since performance on these tests is adversely affected by both aphasia and apraxia.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1980

Factors influencing type and severity of aphasia.

The influence of etiology and sex on aphasia type and the relation of age to the severity and type of language disorders have been assessed in 718 right-handed aphasic patients. Both trauma and neoplasia are associated with fluent aphasia significantly more often, while sex proved to have no influence on aphasia type. The frequency distribution of age according to type and severity of aphasia - studied in vascular patients only (N = 566) - demonstrated that fluency and severity are significantly associated with older age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1980

Is ideomotor apraxia the outcome of damage to well-defined regions of the left hemisphere? Neuropsychological study of CAT correlation.

A CAT scan was recorded from 123 patients with left hemisphere damage from stroke. They were divided into four groups according to presence or absence of ideomotor apraxia and length of illness (15 to 90 days and over 90 days). The lesions were mapped and compared in the four experimental groups for anteroposterior dimension, lesion depth--deep-seated lesions deing separated from lesions with a superficial component--and position with respect to the Sylvian fissure for lesions encroaching on the surface. In the anteroposterior dimension there is no material difference in the distribution of the lesions with respect to length of illness. Moreover, any difference is hardly detectable between the profiles for patients with and without ideomotor apraxia except for the higher frequency of deep lesions in the non-apraxic group. The same holds true for "small" lesions.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

Further suggestions for cerebral CT-localization.

A method of obtaining lateral diagrams of brain lesions or structures from CT-scan pictures has been described and tested for accuracy with satisfactory results. Possible sources of error are discussed.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1979

Unilateral neglect, representational schema and consciousness.

Right brain-damaged patients with unilateral neglect were asked to detect differences within pairs of patterns moving left- or rightward behind a narrow vertical slit. It was seen that differences occurring on the left side of the mentally reconstructed images were less easily detected; therefore it is suggested that a representational disorder plays a primary role in unilateral neglect. In the light of these findings, it is possible to take into consideration some implications of unilateral neglect for theories of conscious brain activity.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Unilateral neglect of representational space.

Two patients showing left unilateral neglect were asked to describe imagined perspectives of familiar surroundings. Left-sided details were largely omitted in the descriptions. Some theoretical implications of the occurrence of unilateral neglect in representational space are briefly considered.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Lexical and semantic factors influencing picture naming in aphasia.

Picture naming requires early visual analysis, accessing stored structural knowledge, semantic activation, and lexical retrieval. We tested the effect of perceptual, lexical, and semantic variables on the performance of aphasics in picture naming and assessed prevalence of natural categories vs artifact dissociations. Forty-nine aphasics were asked to name 60 pictures, from three natural (animals, fruits, and vegetables) and three artificial categories (tools, furniture, and vehicles). For each item visual (drawing complexity, image agreement), semantic (prototypicality, concept familiarity) and lexical variables (word frequency, name agreement) were available. The effect of these variables showed individual differences; altogether, visual complexity had little influence, whereas lexical and semantic variables were more influential. Name agreement was most important, followed by word frequency. On a multiple single case analysis 10 patients (20%) showed a natural/artificial category dissociation. Five of the six subjects faring better with artifacts were males, and all of four patients faring better with natural categories were females. Interpretations of this finding are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Syntactic comprehension deficits in agrammatism.

Eleven agrammatic and 16 fluent aphasic patients were given a comprehension task consisting of simple, active and passive reversible sentences. The purpose of the study is to reconsider the comprehension disorders in agrammatism, and particularly of passive reversible sentences, to test to what extent Grodzinsky's trace deletion hypothesis (TDH) is generalizable to other types of NP-movement, and finally to ascertain whether the pattern of impairment observed in agrammatism differs from that of fluent aphasic patients. The study confirms that trace analysis may be selectively impaired in agrammatism. However, this deficit is not the only mechanism underlying comprehension disorders and cannot be said to occur in all agrammatic patients. Comprehension disorders also involve the processing of clitic object pronouns which also underly NP-movement. Finally, the impairment found in fluent aphasic patients differs, both in type and severity, from that of agrammatic patients, thus confirming the peculiar aspects of the agrammatic comprehension deficit suggested by Grodzinsky's TDH.

Aphasia, Broca↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The evaluation of aphasic deficits for the definition of a targetted logotherapeutic treatment].

The Aachener Aphasie Test (AAT) is the major German test for the diagnosis of aphasic disorders. The test is easy to use and is valid and reliable for the diagnosis of aphasia and its severity and to evaluate the recovery of the aphasic disorder after language rehabilitation. The AAT is, however, not sufficient to define cognitively sound logotherapeutic treatment. The use of tasks which are based on cognitive functional models allows the identification of specific processing levels that have been damaged by a cerebral lesion, and the definition of a focussed rehabilitation plan. In this paper, we will discuss the results of a cognitive neurolinguistic treatment in a patient who suffered of Broca's aphasia with agrammatism and phonological dyslexia.

Adult↗