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Biomedical subjects

N R Varney

Publications and source records attributed to N R Varney.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Colour association and "colour amnesia" in aphasia.

"Colour association" performance of 50 aphasic patients was investigated by means of a test in which they identified the characteristic colours of objects shown in line drawings. All aphasics with defects in colour association were impaired in reading comprehension. However, some (33%) retained normal aural comprehension. Approximately half the aphasics with receptive language impairment performed normally in colour association. The findings suggest that "colour amnesia" may be the result of a specific cognitive disturbance which is also responsible for a subtype of aphasic alexia.

Adult↗

Sound recognition in relation to aural language comprehension in aphasic patients.

This study was undertaken to determine whether some aphasic defects in aural language comprehension might be a reflection of cognitive impairment which also affects the recognition of meaningful, non-verbal sounds. Defects in sound recognition were consistently associated with aural comprehension defects of at least comparable severity and the majority of aphasics with impaired aural comprehension failed sound recognition. Although some aphasics with impaired aural comprehension performed normally in sound recognition, their language comprehension impairments were not of lesser severity than those shown by aphasics failing sound recognition. The relationship between sound recognition and reading comprehension was different in nature from that between sound recognition and aural comprehension.

Adult↗

Visuospatial judgment. A clinical test.

We constructed and developed a brief test assessing capacity for discriminating the direction of lines. Application of the test to patients with unilateral brain disease disclosed a remarkably high frequency of defective performance in those with right hemisphere lesions. The performance of patients with left hemisphere lesions was comparable to that of control patients. Brevity and ease of administration make the test convenient for clinical use.

Adolescent↗

Linguistic correlates of pantomime recognition in aphasic patients.

Aphasic patients were given tests assessing pantomime recognition, reading comprehension, aural comprehension, and naming ability to determine whether defective pantomime recognition could be the result of a disturbance of symbolic thinking also affecting linguistic functioning. Defects in pantomime recognition always occurred in conjunction with reading defects of at least comparable severity, but reading defects sometimes occurred without comparable defects in pantomime recognition. The relationship of pantomime recognition with both aural comprehension and naming ability was significantly weaker than that between pantomime recognition and reading comprehension. The implications of the findings with regard to other nonverbal aphasic symptoms and the role of sensory modality factors are discussed.

Aphasia↗

Visual localization in patients with unilateral brain disease.

The accuracy of localization of briefly exposed single dots and pairs of dots was assessed in patients with lesions of the left and right hemispheres and in control patients without history or evidence of brain disease. A remarkably high frequency of impaired performance was found in the patients with right hemisphere lesions. The performance of the patients with left hemisphere lesions was comparable with that of the control patients. Visual field defect was associated with defective localization in the right hemisphere group but not in the left hemisphere group. Aphasic disorder and age were not related to performance level. The relationship of the findings to those of previous studies of visual localization in patients with unilateral brain disease is discussed.

Adult↗

Visual perception of line direction in patients with unilateral brain disease.

The accuracy of identifying the slope of briefly exposed lines was assessed in patients with lesions of the left or right hemisphere and in a group of control patients without history or evidence of brain disease. The frequency of impaired performance was remarkably high in the patients with right hemisphere lesions. In contrast, the patients with left hemisphere lesions did not perform differently from the control group. Visual field defect, aphasic disorder, and age were not related to performance level. The striking interhemispheric difference in performance on this visuospatial task suggests its further development for clinicodiagnostic purposes.

Adult↗

Neuropsychiatric correlates of theta bursts in patients with closed head injury.

Twenty-five head-injured patients with localized theta bursts on standard or 24 h ambulatory EEG were administered a standardized interview for neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with complex partial seizures (e.g. olfactory hallucinations, memory gaps) and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Although the formal neuropsychological test performances of these patients were relatively normal they reported an abundance of seizure-like behavioural symptoms. While the frequency of these symptoms was high, they did not occur in a stereotyped complex or sequence. These findings suggest that localized theta bursts may be diagnostic of an underlying neuroelectrical disorder.

Adolescent↗