Number processing after stroke: anatomoclinical correlations in oral and written codes.
Calculation and number-processing abilities were studied in 49 patients with chronic single vascular brain lesions by means of a standardized multitask assessment battery (EC301), as well as through other tasks, testing functions thought to be implicated in calculation such as language, visuo-perceptive abilities, verbal and spatial working memory, planning, and attention. The results show that (1) lesions involving parietal areas-particularly left parietal lesions-are prone to alter calculation processing. A more detailed analysis showed that patients with lesions involving left parietal areas were impaired in both digital (i.e., comprehension and production of numbers written in Arabic code) and oral (i.e., comprehension and production of numbers heard or expressed orally) processing while lesions involving right parietal areas lead to an impairment in digital processing only. However, linguistically related alphanumerical processing (i.e., comprehension and production of numbers written orthographically) was not influenced by parietal lesions. (2) Semantic representations (knowledge of the magnitude related to a given number) as well as rote arithmetical knowledge are also impaired following damage to parietal and particularly left parietal lesions, suggesting that these areas are also implicated in magnitude comparisons and in the retrieval of arithmetical facts. (3) Performance in calculation is highly correlated with language. (4) Moreover, we found a highly significant correlation between performances in oral calculation and verbal working memory, and between written-digit calculation and visuospatial working memory. Performances in regard to visuo-perceptive abilities, planning, and attention were less consistently correlated with calculation. These results stress the close correlation, but relative independence between calculation and language, as well as a dissociated sensitivity of oral and digital processing to brain lesions.
Mayer
Eugène
E
Neuropsychology Unit, Neurological Clinic, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland. eugene.mayer@hcuge.ch
Reicherts
Michael
M
Deloche
Gérard
G
Willadino-Braga
Lucia
L
Taussik
Irène
I
Dordain
Monique
M
Van der Linden
Martial
M
Annoni
Jean-Marie
JM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000293:injuries / Q000503:physiopathology; D011340:Problem Solving; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012660:Semantics; D013028:Space Perception; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014894:Weights and Measures; D014956:Writing