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Biomedical subjects

R J Duffy

Publications and source records attributed to R J Duffy.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Nonverbal communication of affect in brain-damaged patients.

A slide viewing technique designed to assess spontaneous nonverbal expressiveness was administered to 37 male patients including 8 left hemisphere damaged (aphasic), 10 right hemisphere damaged, 9 Parkinson's disease, and 10 non brain-damaged (control) patients. Patients watched different types of affective slides while their facial/gestural responses were videotaped. Judges watching the video tapes without audio guessed the types of slide being viewed. Results indicated that aphasic patients were equal to or more expressive than controls, while right hemisphere damaged and Parkinson's disease patients were less expressive. The possibility that spontaneous non verbal expressiveness is mediated by the right cerebral hemisphere, with the left hemisphere playing an inhibitory role, was discussed as a tentative explanation.

Affect↗
PubMed1979

A translation of Finkelnburg's (1870) lecture on aphasia as "asymbolia" with commentary.

On March 21, 1870, Dr. D.C. Finkelnburg addressed the Society of the Lower Rhine in Bonn on the popular topic of aphasia. He challenged the prevailing view that aphasia was a disorder of speech only and the emphasis that had been given to the issue of cerebral localization. The disorder, he pointed out, not only extended beyond the speech modality to include verbal comprehension, reading, and writing but also included many extraverbal disturbances of symbolic usage. In support of his argument, he presented five detailed case studies of aphasics (two with autopsy data) who demonstrated a variety of verbal and extraverbal deficits. Because the term aphasia referred specifically to speech disturbance and inadequately signified the full extent of the disorder, Finkelnburg proposed the more generic term asymbolia as a more accurate representation of the nature of the disorder. This translation makes available a previously inaccessible but historically important and still viable contribution to the study of the nature of aphasia.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1976

A comparison of impairments in verbal comprehension, speech, reading, and writing in adult aphasics.

A clinical population of 44 aphasics was rated on the severity of impairment of functional communication in each of four language modalities: verbal comprehension, speech, reading, and writing. Comparisons are made of the severity of impairment in each pair of language modalities for the subjects as a group and for individual subjects. Correlations between severity ratings in each pair of language modalities are also presented. The results indicate that all modalities are impaired to approximately the same degree and that differences between severity ratings across all modalities are small for the large majority of aphasic subjects. Writing is usually the most severely impaired modality. A discussion is presented reviewing the important influences that methodology has on the data obtained and on the inferences which may be drawn about the nature of aphasia as a uni- or multimodality impairment.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Pantomime recognition in aphasics.

A pantomime recognition test was developed to study the extent of impairment of pantomime recognition and the relationship between pantomime recognition and verbal deficits in asphasics. This test requires no verbal instructions to the subject and only a simple pointing response. A description and rationale for the test are presented. This new test and three tests of verbal abilities (Verbal Recognition Test, Naming Test, and the Porch Index of Communicative Ability) were administered to four groups of subjects: aphasics, right-hemisphere damaged, subcortically damaged, and normals. Results indicate (1) greater impairment of pantomime recognition ability in aphasics than the other groups of subjects and (2) high correlations between impairment of pantomime recognition and impairment of verbal abilities in aphasics. Our findings are consistent with previous clinical reports and experimental data showing that aphasics commonly demonstrate impairment in gesture and pantomime. We conclude that aphasia is best understood as a general impairment of symbolic communication that includes nonverbal as well as verbal deficits.

Aphasia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of discourse analyses for the evaluation of higher level traumatically brain-injured adults.

Higher level traumatically brain-injured (TBI) adults often present a challenge in assessment as well as in the measurement of recovery. Traditional clinical measures of language abilities have not been adequate to identify and describe precisely what is deviant about their communication. Assessment has generally consisted of aphasia tests and measures of general cognitive abilities. Although such measures may be sensitive to deficits in lower level TBI patients or those in the early stages of recovery, their usefulness with higher functioning patients is questionable due to the often subtle nature of their residual communication problems. An overview of discourse analyses is presented and recent applications of these procedures with TBI patients reviewed.

Adolescent↗