The bioelectrical activity of cerebellar structures in the freely-moving rat.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F Klingberg.
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Tactile pattern recognition of ten different patterns which were engraved upon 4 x 4 cm plastic plaquettes with one hand and thereafter drawing with the other or the same hand was tested in 21 patients with a mild stage primary degenerative presenile onset dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) and in 14 patients with a questionable dementia on the background of a chronic cardiovascular disease (CVD) in comparison to 15 healthy subjects of the same age (51 years old, elder controls, (EC)) and 16 younger subjects (22 years old, younger controls, (YC)). Patients made about four times more errors than the EC group. Duration from the begin of touching to the end of drawing was significantly longer in patients than in controls. In a second task the subjects had to recognize four subsequent patterns, then to perform a standard multiplication task and afterwards to draw all four patterns in their correct sequence. Patients made about ten times more errors in pattern recognition and series reproduction than age-matched controls.
The clinical diagnosis of organic brain syndromes (especially of primary degenerative dementia) in their early stages is uncertain or only tentative. We used a set of relatively simple tests to support the hypothesis that the disturbance of several operational brain functions precedes memory decline in primary degenerative dementia. Twenty-one patients with early stage, presenile onset of DAT, 14 patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a questionable dementia, an age-matched control group (EC, n = 15), and a younger control group (YC, n = 16) were examined in the following tests: labyrinth learning test, tactile and visual pattern recognition, different reaction time tasks, eye-tracking, finger-tapping, alpha-EEG-blockade, photic driving, flicker fusion frequency, and interaction tasks. The test demonstrated that the patients performed more slowly for all tasks than did control subjects. The CVD patients performed better than the DAT group, but they were also significantly worse in the tests compared with healthy elder subjects. This test battery was found purposeful for early diagnosis of both primary degenerative and other forms of dementia, and may also be helpful to exclude other forms of organic brain syndromes.