Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

E Capitani

Publications and source records attributed to E Capitani.

81 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Focal hemisphere and visuoperceptual categorization.

Visuoperceptual categorization was investigated in patients with unilateral brain damage by a task in which meaningless shapes had to be classified with reference to a number of prototype patterns. Right brain-damaged subjects with visual field defect turned out to have a narrower categorization span. As this outcome seems to be scarcely consonant with a lower level disorder of visual processing, a major competence of the right hemisphere is suggested for visuoperceptual categorization.

Brain Mapping↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Lexical and semantic factors influencing picture naming in aphasia.

Picture naming requires early visual analysis, accessing stored structural knowledge, semantic activation, and lexical retrieval. We tested the effect of perceptual, lexical, and semantic variables on the performance of aphasics in picture naming and assessed prevalence of natural categories vs artifact dissociations. Forty-nine aphasics were asked to name 60 pictures, from three natural (animals, fruits, and vegetables) and three artificial categories (tools, furniture, and vehicles). For each item visual (drawing complexity, image agreement), semantic (prototypicality, concept familiarity) and lexical variables (word frequency, name agreement) were available. The effect of these variables showed individual differences; altogether, visual complexity had little influence, whereas lexical and semantic variables were more influential. Name agreement was most important, followed by word frequency. On a multiple single case analysis 10 patients (20%) showed a natural/artificial category dissociation. Five of the six subjects faring better with artifacts were males, and all of four patients faring better with natural categories were females. Interpretations of this finding are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Left hemisphere lesion and visual recognition of single letters (author's transl)].

100 Controls and 200 left hemisphere-damaged patients were sub-divided by means of a Standard Language Battery in 35 non Aphasic patients, 51 Broca's aphasic patients, 85 Wernicke's aphasic patients and 29 global aphasics. They were all submitted to a single letter recognition test. From a parametric statistical work-out of the experimental data, it turned out that global aphasics are by far the most impaired experimental group, even if their performance had been adjusted by co-variance taking into account their more relevant aphasic and neurological disorders. Whilst age and length of illness do not play a significant role in the test performance, this was significant for the educational level (years of schooling) and for the severity of the aphasic disorders (Token Test). The relationship between the above-mentioned independent variables and the letter recognition scores did not change significantly across the experimental groups. The only exception was that the relation between the Token Test and the letter recognition scores proved to be significantly different between Broca's and Global Aphasics. No definite conclusion could be drawn about the outstandingly poor scores of global aphasics, as neither their performance or their I.Q. (W.A.I.S.) seemed to be related to the letter recognition scores (in contrast with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics), nor to the presence of retro-geniculate visual field defects.

Aphasia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Do living and nonliving categories need further fractionation? A study of picture naming in a pathological sample.

A group of 51 patients affected by possible semantic memory deficit were given a picture naming task for the purposes of a comparison between six categories, three of Nonliving nature (tools, furniture, vehicles) and three of a Living nature (animals, fruits, and vegetables). A logistic regression analysis was used for a multiple single case study, where also the items' basic difficulty was included in the model. Besides some patients showing a dissociation between Living and Nonliving categories, other patients showed a finer selectivity on naming, differentiating animals from fruits and vegetables, tools from nonmanipulable objects, and even vehicles from furniture. These results are examined in the light of current theories of semantic category specificity.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of age- and dementia-dependent cognitive modifications: a cross sectional study with Alzheimer patients and normal 20-year-older controls.

Alzheimer's patients (DAT/pts) and 2 control groups (one matched for age and education and one for education but 20 years older) were given ten cognitive ability tasks suited to test language, memory and intelligence performances. The aim was to ascertain whether test score relationships changed between DAT/pts and the 20-year-older controls. Test profiles appeared to be similar for memory and intelligence but not for language tasks. This outcome, however, cannot be definitely accepted, and the experiment is discussed to define the methodological constraints that warn against a naive interpretation of the multivariate profiles.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The quantitative parameters of intrathecal IgG synthesis. A comparison.

Cerebrospinal fluid IgG/Albumin, IgG Index, Tourtellotte's formula and Schuller's formula have been calculated in 258 patients with definite Multiple Sclerosis and oligoclonal bands at isoelectrofocusing examination of cerebrospinal fluid. A step wise discriminant analysis was performed on single parameters and on a combination of IgG Index, Tourtellotte's and Schuller's formulas. The latter showed the highest percentage of right classification.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Discriminant analysis of WAIS results in different types of dementia and depressed patients.

A Multivariate Analysis of Covariance and Discriminant Analysis were carried out on complete WAIS profiles obtained from three groups of demented patients: Multi-Infarct Dementia patients, Senile Dementia of Alzheimer Type patients, and Alcoholic Dementia patients. A group of middle-aged Depressed patients was also included. WAIS did not differentiate among dementias, but Picture Completion and Block Design subtests proved to be effective in differentiating dementia from depression.

Aged↗