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Biomedical subjects

G Caneman

Publications and source records attributed to G Caneman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Visual and tactile rod bisection in unilateral neglect.

A rod bisection task was performed by 16 RBD patients with visual neglect, 10 RBD and 10 LBD patients without visual neglect, and 10 normal controls. Three different conditions were used: tactile, where they explored the rod blindfolded; visuo-tactile, where they explored the rod manually without blindfold; and visual, where they pointed to the midpoint without prior manual exploration. Only within the RBD group with visual neglect was there a significant difference between the three conditions. These patients made large rightward errors under the visual condition but no significant deviations from actual midpoint under the visuo-tactile or the tactile condition. It is therefore possible that rod exploration, which is an integral part of tactile bisection, reduces neglect to such an extent that it is difficult to identify neglect in the tactile modality on this task.

Aged↗

Tactile line-bisection in normal subjects.

The effects of spatial position, handedness, and hand of performance were assessed in 36 normal subjects using a tactile line-bisection task described in 1980 by Bowers and Heilman. An interaction between hand of performance and spatial position indicated that both hemispace and anatomical pathways determine laterality effects. Neither the left-hand superiority nor the leftward error in the midline condition by both hands found in an earlier study could be observed here. Only right-handers were influenced by starting condition, which in this setting acted as a spatial cue. Finally, some subjects used nonspatial strategies, a confounding factor that needs evaluation in further studies.

Adolescent↗

A tactile maze test in unilateral spatial neglect: the influence of vision and recording technique.

Right brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect were examined on a tactile maze task. They started to explore the right side of the maze and their search times were longer on the left side. Their performance was the same whether blindfolded or not, which contrasts with the results of other studies and probably reflects differences in task demand. The present results do not support a previous observation that visual neglect can be compensated through the tactile modality. Our patients had markedly longer search times than normal controls in the right as well as the left hemifield, and search times in both hemifields were positively correlated. The outcome of the maze test in this context may therefore depend to a large extent on impaired topographical processing.

Adult↗

Apparent right neglect in patients with left visual neglect.

Two patients with unilateral left visual neglect were asked to bisect lines of different lengths. They showed, as expected, a rightward bias with longer lines. In contrast, they consistently transected very short lines (25 mm) to the left of the objective midpoint. The finding confirms a previous observation of similar behaviour but differs in other aspects that are of theoretical importance.

Aged↗

Impairment/function and disability/activity 3 years after cerebrovascular incident or brain trauma: a rehabilitation and occupational therapy view.

A consecutive series of 195 individuals who had had a stroke or brain trauma in 1986 responded in 1989 to a questionnaire about the consequences of the incident for occupational performance. The questionnaire contained 86 questions organized to correspond to the WHO International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH). The questions were distributed over 11 areas of occupational performance: work, leisure activities/social role, life satisfaction, sensori-motor, perceptual, intellectual, emotional function, sleep, personal care, domestic/housework/gardening, and temporal adaptation. None of the individuals considered they had attained the same level of occupational performance in all 11 areas as before the incident. Eight patterns of occupational performance were identified: 35% considered that they performed personal care at the same level and had the same temporal adaptation as before the incident, and that they had minimal impairment/disability in the other areas of occupational performance; 27% thought that they had a considerable degree of disability in all areas of occupational performance except for temporal adaptation; 8% thought that they had imbalance in temporal adaptation and severe performance difficulties in all 11 areas of occupational performance; 4% were dissatisfied with their life situation, and had a changed family role, did not practise the leisure activities they wanted, and had severe sleep problems; and for 9% the levels of performance varied a great deal and depended on the particular area of performance. The consequences of stroke or brain trauma for function and activity 3 years afterwards are considerable.

Activities of Daily Living↗