title: Effects of early focal brain injury on memory for visuospatial patterns: selective deficits of global-local processing.
abstract: Selective deficits in visuospatial processing are present early in development among children with perinatal focal brain lesions (PL). Children with right hemisphere PL (RPL) are impaired in configural processing, while children with left hemisphere PL (LPL) are impaired in featural processing. Deficits associated with LPL are less pervasive than those observed with RPL, but this difference may reflect the structure of the tasks used for assessment. Many of the tasks used to date may place greater demands on configural processing, thus highlighting this deficit in the RPL group. This study employed a task designed to place comparable demands on configural and featural processing, providing the opportunity to obtain within-task evidence of differential deficit. Sixty-two 5- to 14-year-old children (19 RPL, 19 LPL, and 24 matched controls) reproduced from memory a series of hierarchical forms (large forms composed of small forms). Global- and local-level reproduction accuracy was scored. Controls were equally accurate on global- and local-level reproduction. Children with RPL were selectively impaired on global accuracy, and children with LPL on local accuracy, thus documenting a double dissociation in global-local processing.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Department of Cognitive Science.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stiles
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, School of Medicine, Brown University.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Appelbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, New York University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nass
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurosciences and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California.
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trauner
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of California.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hesselink
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*