title: Relationships between constructional and visuospatial abilities in normal subjects and in focal brain-damaged patients.
abstract: We tested 125 normal subjects and 24 right and 22 left focal brain-damaged patients (RBD and LBD) on the Rey figure copying test and on a battery of perceptual and representational visuospatial tasks, in search of relationships between constructional and visuospatial abilities. Selected RBD and LBD were not affected by severe aphasia, unilateral spatial neglect or general intellectual defects. Both RBD and LBD showed defective performances on the constructional task with respect to normal subjects. As regards visuospatial tasks, both patient groups scored lower than normal subjects in judging angle width and mentally assembling geometrical figures; moreover, RBD, but not LBD, achieved scores significantly lower than healthy controls in judging line orientation and analyzing geometrical figures. Post-hoc comparisons did not reveal any significant differences between RBD and LBD. Multiple regression analysis showed that visuospatial abilities correlate with accuracy in copying geometrical drawings in normal subjects and in RBD, but not in LBD. From a theoretical perspective, these findings support the idea that visual perceptual and representational abilities do play a role in constructional skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trojano
authors.forename: Nina A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fragassi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chiacchio
authors.forename: Orsola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Izzo
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Izzo
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Cesare
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cristinzio
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grossi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000523:psychology; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012399:Rotation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*