title: A clinical study on closing-in in focal brain-damaged individuals.
abstract: In visuo-constructional assessment, brain-damaged individuals may copy figures near to or superimposed on the model, showing the Closing-in (CI). CI has been largely investigated in dementia, and often ascribed to impairments of the attention/executive abilities ("Attraction hypothesis"). Only a few dated studies investigated frequency of CI in brain-damaged individuals, without clarifying the genesis of the phenomenon. We aimed at testing the "Attraction hypothesis" in 27 individuals with focal frontal cortical or sub-cortical brain lesions by a dual-task experimental paradigm. The participants underwent a neuropsychological battery and a copying task to be performed alone (single task condition), or concurrently with a simple or a complex verbal secondary task (dual-task conditions). CI was found in 66% of frontal-damaged individuals, who scored significantly lower than healthy adults on all neuropsychological measures; brain-damaged individuals showing CI performed worse than frontal-damaged individuals without CI on frontal and visuo-constructional measures. In the dual-task condition with the complex secondary task CI was significantly enhanced, with a weaker tendency to self-correction, in individuals with CI compared to individuals without CI. These findings would confirm that the CI in brain-damaged individuals is related to reduction of attentional resources, consistently with the "Attraction hypothesis".
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Natascia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Lucia
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grossi
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy; Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS, Rehabilitation Institute of Telese Terme (BN), Italy. Electronic address: luigi.trojano@unina2.it.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trojano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Attention; Closing-in; Drawing; Dual-task; Focal damage; Frontal lobe