Cognitive structure of executive deficits in frontally lesioned head trauma patients performing activities of daily living.
OBJECTIVE
Executive functions in activities of daily living (ADL) were investigated in 10 patients with frontal lobe lesions after a mild to severe closed head injury (CHI).


METHODS
The CHI patients were compared to 12 normal controls with a neuropsychological test battery, a script recitation task and a realistic simulation of complex multitask ADL (planning and preparing a meal).


RESULTS
Though the CHI patients were significantly slow on one test and subject to interference on an attention test with parametric testing, the groups did not differ on any neuropsychological test with non parametric testing. However, the CHI patients manifested marked anomalies in the meal preparation task. While small sequences of actions were easily produced, large action sets could not be correctly executed.


CONCLUSIONS
An outstanding deficit in strategic planning and prospective memory appears to be an important underpinning of the impairment of ADL observed in CHI patients with frontal lobe lesions.
Fortin
Sandra
S
Université du Québec à Montréal, Département de Psychologie, Centre de Neuroscience de la Cognition, Canada.
Godbout
Lucie
L
Braun
Claude M J
CM
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance