Disturbances of mental image processing in post-stroke patients with left and right hemisphere damage.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this article is to point out significant differences in how mental images are processed by post-stroke patients with left and right hemisphere damage. The issues involved are of theoretical importance because of the light shed on the modularity of cerebral functions, especially the imagination, and of clinical importance due to the better understanding of the underlying pathomechanism.


METHODS
The research involved 82 right-handed patients with a lesion in the left hemisphere (Group L), 82 right-handed patients with a lesion in the right hemisphere (Group R), and, as a control group, 82 patients with musculo-skeletal disorders not affecting the central nervous system (Group C), matched by age and sex. Image processing of complex notions was examined by using selected items from the Simple Neurolinguistic Test.


RESULTS
In the control group, the majority of the patients responded to most of the prompts with polymodal associations of various types. In Group L, responses were dominated by isolated elements of the complex situation, while in Group R the associations were mostly verbal (lexical) and highly restricted in scope.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that the loss of LH functions interferes with the ability to assemble pieces of polymodal image information into sensible strings, while the loss of RH functions leaves strings to which little information is attached.
Pachalska
M
M
Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Cracow Rehabilitation Center, Cracow, Poland. athene@poczta.onet.pl
Talar
J
J
Brodziak
A
A
MacQueen
B D
BD
D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*