Acquired reading impairment following brain injury.

This large-scale patient study investigated the rate, unique signatures associated with acquired reading impairments, its neurocognitive correlates, and long-term outcome in 731 acute stroke patients using the sentence and non-word reading subtests of Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS). The objectives for the study were to explore the (i) potentially different error patterns among adult patients, (ii) associative relationship between the different subclasses of reading impairment and performance in other cognitive domains, and (iii) recovery rates in patients nine months post-lesion compared with their initial performance. The study revealed distinctive reading impairment profiles in patients with left hemisphere (LH) and right hemisphere (RH) lesions.

Delineating the cognitive-neural substrates of writing: a large scale behavioral and voxel based morphometry study.

The current study investigated the cognitive and neural substrates that underpin writing ability. We explored similarities and differences in writing numbers and words and compared these to language and manual actions in a large group of sub-acute, stroke patients (n = 740). The behavioral data showed association and dissociation in the ability to write words and numbers.

The assessment of hemineglect syndrome with cancellation tasks: a comparison between the Bells test and the Apples test.

Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a frequent consequence of acquired brain injury, especially following right hemisphere damage. Traditionally, unilateral spatial neglect is assessed with cancellation tests such as the Bells test. Recently, a new cancellation test, the Apples test, has been proposed.

Lesion-symptom mapping of a complex figure copy task: A large-scale PCA study of the BCoS trial.

Complex figure copying is a commonly used neuropsychological test. Here we explored the neural basis of the factors underlying complex figure copying (CFC), using data from the Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) in a large group of sub-acute, ischemic stroke patients (239). We computed two analyses: in the first we assessed the contribution of co-morbid deficits (i.

Preliminary findings on the reliability and validity of the Cantonese Birmingham Cognitive Screen in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Background: There are no currently effective cognitive assessment tools for patients who have suffered stroke in the People's Republic of China. The Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) has been shown to be a promising tool for revealing patients' poststroke cognitive deficits in specific domains, which facilitates more individually designed rehabilitation in the long run. Hence we examined the reliability and validity of a Cantonese version BCoS in patients with acute ischemic stroke, in Guangzhou.

The Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS): validation of a stroke-specific short cognitive screening tool.

There is currently no existing freely available short screen for cognitive problems that targets stroke survivors specifically. We have developed a short cognitive screen, the Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS), to be completed in 15-20 min, designed for use with stroke patients. To maximize inclusion, the test is aphasia- and neglect friendly and covers domains of cognition where deficits frequently occur after stroke, including apraxia and unilateral neglect as well as memory, language, executive function, and number abilities.

The relation of object naming and other visual speech production tasks: a large scale voxel-based morphometric study.

We report a lesion-symptom mapping analysis of visual speech production deficits in a large group (280) of stroke patients at the sub-acute stage (<120 days post-stroke). Performance on object naming was evaluated alongside three other tests of visual speech production, namely sentence production to a picture, sentence reading and nonword reading. A principal component analysis was performed on all these tests' scores and revealed a 'shared' component that loaded across all the visual speech production tasks and a 'unique' component that isolated object naming from the other three tasks.

The neural substrates of drawing: a voxel-based morphometry analysis of constructional, hierarchical, and spatial representation deficits.

Deficits in the ability to draw objects, despite apparently intact perception and motor abilities, are defined as constructional apraxia. Constructional deficits, often diagnosed based on performance on copying complex figures, have been reported in a range of pathologies, perhaps reflecting the contribution of several underlying factors to poor figure drawing. The current study provides a comprehensive analysis of brain-behavior relationships in drawing disorders based on data from a large cohort of subacute stroke patients (n = 358) using whole-brain voxel-wise statistical analyses linked to behavioral measures from a complex figure copy task.

The frequency and severity of extinction after stroke affecting different vascular territories.

We examined the frequency and severity of visual versus tactile extinction based on data from a large group of sub-acute patients (n=454) with strokes affecting different vascular territories. After right hemisphere damage visual and tactile extinction were equally common. However, after left hemisphere damage tactile extinction was more common than visual.

Common and distinct neural mechanisms of visual and tactile extinction: A large scale VBM study in sub-acute stroke.

Extinction is diagnosed when patients respond to a single contralesional item but fail to detect this item when an ipsilesional item is present concurrently. Extinction has been studied mainly in the visual modality but it occurs also in other sensory modalities (touch, audition) and hence can be considered a multisensory phenomenon. The functional and neuroanatomical relations between extinction in different modalities are poorly understood.

The prognosis of allocentric and egocentric neglect: evidence from clinical scans.

We contrasted the neuroanatomical substrates of sub-acute and chronic visuospatial deficits associated with different aspects of unilateral neglect using computed tomography scans acquired as part of routine clinical diagnosis. Voxel-wise statistical analyses were conducted on a group of 160 stroke patients scanned at a sub-acute stage. Lesion-deficit relationships were assessed across the whole brain, separately for grey and white matter.

Systematic assessment of apraxia and functional predictions from the Birmingham Cognitive Screen.

Objective: The validity and functional predictive values of the apraxia tests in the Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) were evaluated. BCoS was developed to identify patients with different forms of praxic deficit using procedures designed to be inclusive for patients with aphasia and/or spatial neglect.

Method: Observational studies were conducted from a university neuropsychological assessment centre and from acute and rehabilitation stroke care hospitals throughout an English region.

Separating forms of neglect using the Apples Test: validation and functional prediction in chronic and acute stroke.

Objective: We report data on the validation and functional correlates of Apples Test, which attempts to differentiate between different forms of unilateral neglect.

Method: Study 1 presents data from 25 participants with chronic brain lesions who completed the Apples Test and another standard measure of neglect (Star Cancellation). The patients' performance relative to 86 controls was assessed and their relative performance across the two tests compared.

Separating neural correlates of allocentric and egocentric neglect: distinct cortical sites and common white matter disconnections.

Insights into the functional nature and neuroanatomy of spatial attention have come from research in neglect patients but to date many conflicting results have been reported. The novelty of the current study is that we used voxel-wise analyses based on information from segmented grey and white matter tissue combined with diffusion tensor imaging to decompose neural substrates of different neglect symptoms. Allocentric neglect was associated with damage to posterior cortical regions (posterior superior temporal sulcus, angular, middle temporal and middle occipital gyri).

The case of the unfamiliar implement: schema-based over-riding of semantic knowledge from objects in everyday action.

We examined the role of schema knowledge in everyday action by assessing the use of unfamiliar implements by patients with subcortical and frontal lobe damage. Although the patients were relatively good at naming or showing how the unfamiliar implements could be used outside of the task context, the patients omitted using the objects in everyday life tasks more often than control participants--either omitting the action step involving the objects or performing the action using a familiar object that was not normally used for this purpose. The data suggest that knowledge about objects in the context of a task can play a determining role in how objects are used in everyday action.

Testing the domain-specificity of a theory of mind deficit in brain-injured patients: evidence for consistent performance on non-verbal, "reality-unknown" false belief and false photograph tasks.

To test the domain-specificity of "theory of mind" abilities we compared the performance of a case-series of 11 brain-lesioned patients on a recently developed test of false belief reasoning () and on a matched false photograph task, which did not require belief reasoning and which addressed problems with existing false photograph methods. A strikingly similar pattern of performance was shown across the false belief and false photograph tests. Patients who were selectively impaired on false belief tasks were also impaired on false photograph tasks; patients spared on false belief tasks also showed preserved performance with false photographs.

The use of memorised verbal scripts in the rehabilitation of action disorganisation syndrome.

We report data on the rehabilitation of action disorganisation syndrome (ADS). Although prior attempts to rehabilitate everyday actions in our patient, FK, had proved unsuccessful, we report positive results from using a verbalisation strategy. FK was taught a poem based on the steps involved in making a cup of tea.