Biomedical subjects

B Ska

Publications and source records attributed to B Ska.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1987

Pantomimes and aging.

The goal of this study was to verify the evolution of pantomiming in normal aged subjects in comparison to normal younger adults. Ninety-six subjects participated in this study: 30 between the ages of 20 and 30; 30 between the ages of 40 and 50; and 36 between the ages of 60 and 82. The subjects were required to execute 42 pantomimes on verbal command. The executed gestures were divided into two categories and analyzed separately: (a) the static constituents which refer to the shape the subject gave to the body part(s) involved; and (b) the dynamic constituents which refer to the executed action and to the relations established between several static constituents during the execution. The results showed that the aged subjects' performance was different from the younger subjects' performance principally in the static constituents of self-oriented one-hand gestures where the aged subjects used a part of their body to serve as the absent object.

Adult↗

PubMed1986

Informative content of narrative discourse in right-brain-damaged right-handers.

Thirty-six right-brain-damaged (RBD) right-handers and 20 controls (C) were submitted to a narrative production task using the pictorial representation of a trivial story. Each subject's narrative was analyzed, using a "propositional analysis," in order to study amount as well as nature of informative content. Results show that RBD subjects' narratives contain a smaller amount of information that did not appear to be related to a smaller amount of verbal output or to the presence of a visual neglect, that the information contained in RBD subjects' narratives appears to be a subset of that contained in C subjects' narratives, and that these results do not pertain to all C or RBD subjects, since both groups are nonhomogeneous. Even though these results are not linked to the presence of some visual neglect or visual agnosia per se, they could be, at least in part, the expression of some degree of perceptive difficulties of the iconography. However, they are also interpreted as expressing a problem with the organization of narrative discourse at levels of cognitive processing which may not be exclusive to language, but which are nonetheless essential for discourse organization.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Production of narratives: picture sequence facilitates organizational but not conceptual processing in less educated subjects.

Fifty-three healthy older adults were produced stories induced by two types of picture stimuli (single picture and picture sequence). Discourse samples were analyzed for: (1) percentage of expected main ideas (which reflect conceptual processing) and (2) number of transitional markers (which reflect organizational processing). Results indicate that the older group (75 to 84 years) produced a lower percentage of main ideas and less transitional markers than the younger group (65 to 74 years). Both groups also showed better performance in response to the picture sequence than to the single picture. For the percentage of expected main ideas, however, a superior performance in response to the picture sequence was observed only among older subjects with higher (11 to 18 years) but not lower (4 to 10 years) levels of formal education. The role of education and the importance of stimulus type in discourse-specific tasks are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Pantomime recognition impairment in Alzheimer's disease.

This study was designed to examine whether 10 AD patients with diffuse lesions and an early semantic deficit could comprehend the meaning of pantomimes and symbolic gestures. We especially wanted to determine the relationship between pantomime recognition and production. The tasks involved naming or showing an understanding (e.g., circumlocutions) of the pantomimes executed by the examiner and producing pantomimes to verbal command or to imitation. The results showed no significant relationship between pantomime comprehension and pantomime production. However, 60% of AD patients performed poorly compared to controls on the Gesture Recognition task. Gesture comprehension was highly correlated with a measure of global cognitive impairment (3MS). The data are consistent with the proposed separation of comprehension and action production systems in a cognitive model of praxis. Gesture comprehension may be diffusely distributed and thus preserved in the early stages of AD as in circumscribed lesions of the left parietal lobe.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Heterogeneity of cognitive profiles in dementias of the Alzheimer type: theoretical aspects and clinical consequences].

Presently, Alzheimer's disease can only be diagnosed with the coexistence of clinical symptoms and the presence of neuropathological alterations. Thus, in the absence of pre mortem biological markers, cognitive deficits form the starting point and the basis of inclusion criteria on which the clinician relies in order to make a putative diagnose of dementia of the Alzheimer type (DTA). Cognitive deficits should thus be accurately described through neuropsychological testing since it is essential to identify the cognitive deterioration patterns of the patients--in terms of selective impairment of cognitive functions--as well as the evolution of these patterns. Regarding this issue, the classical teaching of the Geneva school has proposed a homogeneous deterioration of the aphasic-apraxicagnosic syndrome into four stages. However, recent work does not support this hypothesis. On the contrary, these studies tend to show the presence of heterogeneity in neuropsychological manifestations of the disease. The aim of the present paper is to provide a critical review of this topic through a brief survey of the classical work and research that have recently been conducted. An analysis of the possible candidates responsible for the existence of this heterogeneity of cognitive profiles is presented. Finally, theoretical implications and clinical repercussions are discussed.

Age Factors↗