Biomedical subjects

W H Brouwer

Publications and source records attributed to W H Brouwer.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1983

Visuo-motor behaviour in pre-school children in relation to sex and neurological status: an experimental study on the effect of 'time-pressure'.

A detailed analysis was made of the visuo-motor behaviour of 139 pre-school children during a spatial-constructive task with and without time-pressure. The study focused mainly on sex differences and the implications of minor neurological dysfunctions for children's visuo-motor behaviour. Between sexes only minor differences in behavioural organization and efficiency were found. Between neurological groups only differences within the girls were found, those with lower neurological optimality scores showing more signs of 'lack of motor inhibition' and distraction in the prestress condition, seemingly related to differences in motivation. No effect was found for time-pressure for groups with a different neurological status.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Flexible adaptation to changing task demands in severe closed head injury patients: a driving simulator study.

The assessment of fitness to drive in patients with closed head injury (CHI) does not usually include executive functioning. Executive functions may be particularly important for the tactical (e.g. anticipatory adaptation of speed) and strategical (e.g. choice of route and time) aspects of driving. The literature lacks evidence on the tactical aspects, which are critical in the assessment of actual driving. Executive functioning was therefore assessed in a task context relevant to tactical decision making in driving. Twenty very severe chronic CHI patients and 20 healthy control subjects were tested with a driving simulator test and an extended neuropsychological test battery. In the driving simulator test, executive function was operationally defined as the flexible adaptation to changing task demands. A specific feature of the test was the experimental control for slow information processing, a persistent sequel of severe CHI. Given this control for slow information processing, it was found that patients were unimpaired in their flexible adaptations. Similar findings were obtained with a neuropsychological test battery. Patients were consistently slower, but planning and flexibility were found to be unimpaired.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Physical fitness related to disability in older persons.

BACKGROUND: In today's aging society, preventing or reducing disability is important. Physical activity may serve this goal. Generally, physical activity aims to enhance physical fitness, which in turn may prevent disability. The relationship between physical fitness and disability has been much less explored than the relationship between physical activity and physical fitness. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between separate components of physical fitness and disability. METHODS: The subjects were a community-based sample of 176 men and 233 women aged 65 years or older. Physical fitness was assessed with performance-based tests. Disability and potential confounders were assessed during face-to-face interviews. RESULTS: Independently of other fitness components, walking endurance, grip strength, manual dexterity and balance contributed significantly to the prediction of disability for both men and women. Flexibility of the hip and spine, flexibility of the shoulder and reaction time were not independent predictors of disability for men or women. Physical fitness explained a greater percentage of variance in disability for women (31-48%) than for men (14-34%). Although depressive symptoms, cognitive functioning (men), number of chronic conditions (women) and age (women) explained additional variance in disability, these variables did not confound the relationship between physical fitness and disability. CONCLUSION: Walking endurance, grip strength and manual dexterity are important unique predictors of disability. Physical activity programs should be directed at these fitness components.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Driving competence in older persons.

Older drivers form a growing segment of the driving population which in comparison to most other modes of transportation, is relatively user-friendly for older people. There are two important problems. The first is the increase of physical vulnerability with age which means that the same accident often leads to much more severe injury in an older than a younger adult driver. The second problem is the decline of sensory, perceptual-motor and cognitive abilities (impairments) because of ageing-related degenerative processes and diseases. As a result, processing of and responding to traffic information is slowed and activities cannot well be performed simultaneously. Much of this may be compensated by behavioural changes. However, studies of accident characteristics and driving skill in relation to ageing suggest that compensation breaks down in complex and ambiguous traffic situations and in individuals with strongly impaired perceptual and cognitive function. Possible changes to reduce ageing-related accidents, and which make driving more user-friendly for older drivers, are discussed.

Accidents, Traffic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Flexibility, inhibition, and planning: frontal dysfunctioning in schizophrenia.

Neuropsychological tests known to reveal abnormalities in patients with frontal lobe damage were used to explore cognitive function in 20 chronic schizophrenic patients. Eleven control subjects, matched on age and NLV-IQ (NLV is the Dutch version of the NART) were also tested. No impairments of planning ability were found on either the Action Program test or the Zoomap test, both subtests from the BADS (Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome). No abnormalities were apparent on tests of reactive flexibility, measured by task-switching and by the Rule Shift Cards test, also a subtest of the BADS. Patients with schizophrenia, however, had significantly greater difficulty in inhibiting irrelevant information and in generating words in a verbal fluency task, a measure of spontaneous flexibility.

Adult↗