Brain-Behavior Relationships

Overview of Topics

Dysfunctions caused by Lesions
Assessment
References

Right Temporal Cortex

1. Compared with similar lesions of the left temporal lobe, right temporal lesion effects tend to be notable statistically but of less clinical significance (22).

2. Visual analysis (nonverbal primarily)
   • Impairment of simple and complex visual analysis (11,12,13, 21,22,26,27,30), but some negative findings (29,36,37).
   • Impairment of short-term nonverbal memory (2,5,12,23,26,27).
   • Impaired perception of tachistoscopically-presented letters (6).
   • Prosopoagnosia (especially with anterior lesions) (13,14,19,23,27,30,40,41,42).
   • Impaired recognition of objects seen from unusual angles (39).

3. Auditory analysis (nonverbal)
   • Impairment of short-term auditory memory (12,36,38).
   • Perception of short sounds impaired (10).
   • Impaired recognition of familiar sounds (27).
   • Impaired tonal discriminations, timbre discriminations, and amplitude discriminations (24).
   • Amusia (1,77,38).
   • Impairment of contralateral ear input in dichotic listening (24,31).

4. Constructional tasks
   • Visual construction impairment proportional to tissue loss (15).
   • Impairment in maze learning (visual and proprioceptive feedback) (4,24,28).
   • Enlarged left-hand margin in dictation (9).

5. Psychiatric -- personality phenomena with right temporal epilepsy
   • Personality changes (18).
   • Psychiatric symptoms (8).
   • Deja vue (3,32).
   • Metamorphopasias (32).

6. Psychometric findings
   • Temporary decline in Performance IQ following lobectomy (2).
   • Impairment on WAIS Picture Arrangement (2,18,21,33,35).
   • Impairment on Binet Memory for Designs (18)
   • Possible impairment of WAIS Block Design? (21).

7. Persistence in maintaining a hypothesis even after being informed it was not correct (34).

TOP

B. Assessing possible right temporal lesions

1. Impairment on WAIS Picture Arrangement (3,7,8,21,33).
2. Impairment on Seashore Test of Musical Talent (especially Tonal memory, Timbre, Loudness, and Time) (24,27).
3. Lezak and others
   • Have the patient identify a tune the examiner hums. If unsuccessful, try several other familiar melodies to check for amusia (1,16,38).
   • Test pitch discrimination with pitch pipe (16).
   • Have patient try to discriminate (or imitate) different rhythmic tapping patterns (16). A memory component may be added.
   • Test recognition of familiar sounds (36, 27).
   • The examiner may pair verbal and nonverbal material to clarify the interpretation of a patient's failures (16).
4. Dichotic thresholds (31).
5. Impairment of short-term memory for other nonverbal acoustic tasks (27,36).
6. Visual recognition deficits (prosopoagnosia included)
   • Impairment of recognition of photographs of faces (27,40,41,42).
   • Impairment on Closure Faces Test (Mooney) (13,14,30).
   • Impairment on McGill Picture Anomalies Test (22, but 37).
   • Difficulty in identifying pictures of objects viewed from unusual angles (39).
7. Impairment of other nonverbal visual tests of short-term memory and visual discrimination (2,l2,21,23) or Binet Memory for Designs Test (18).
8. Corsi's block-tapping test (5, see 22).
9. Impairment on stylus maze tasks (visual or proprioceptive feedback) (4,25,28).
10. Impairment in enumeration of tachistiscopically-presented dots (11,12).
11. Enlarged left margins in dictation? (9).
12. In epileptics a history of strong deja vue experiences or metamorphopsia (13,32).

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References

1. Bogen, J.E. and Gordon, H.U. Musical tests for functional lateralization with introcarotid amobarbitol. Nature, 1971, 230, 524.
2. Buffery, A.M. Asymmetrical lateralization of cerebral function. In S.J. Dimond and J.G. Beaumont (Eds.) Hemisphere Function in the Human Brain, 1974, Elek Science, London.
3. Cole, N. and Zanquill, O.L. Deja vu in temporal lobe epilepsy. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 26. 37-38.
4. Corkin, S. In Neuropsychologia, 1965, 3, p. 339.
5. Corsi, P.H. Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, 1972.
6. Dorff, J.E., Mirsky, A.F., and Mishkin, F. Effects of unilateral temporal lobe removals in man on tachistoscopic recognition in the left and right visual fields. Neuropsychologia, 1965, 1, 39-51.
7. Eigenbrod, F.E. Psychological examination for organicity. Tuskegee, Ala.: Psychology Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, undated.
8. Golla, F.L. Discussion on the mental symptoms associated with cerebral tumours. Proceedings of the Royal Society of medicine, 1931, 24, 1000-1002.
9. Hecaen, J. and Marcie, P. Disorders of written language following right hemisphere lesions: Spatial dysgraphia. In S.J. Dimond and J.G. Beaument (Eds.), Hemisphere Function in the Human Brain, Elek Science, London, 1974.
10. Karasseva, J.A. The role of the temporal lobe in human auditory perception. Neuropsychologia, 1972, 10, 227-231.
11. Kimura, D. Visual and auditory perception after temporal lobe damage. Unpublished doctoral thesis, McGill University, 1960.
12. Kimura, D. Right temporal-lobe damage. Archives of Neurology, 1963, 8, 264-271.
13. Lansdell, H.C. Two selective deficits found to be lateralized in neurosurgery patients. Paper read at 32nd Annual Psychological Association, Philadelphia, 1961.
14. Lansdell, H.C. Effect of extent of temporal lobe ablations on two lateralised deficits. Physiology and Behavior, 1963, 3, 271-273.
15. Lansdell, H. Relation of extent of temporal removals to closure and visuomotor factors. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1970, 31, 491-498.
16. Lezak, M.D. Meuropsychological Assessment, New York, Oxford Univ. Press, 1976.
17. Luria, A.R. Neuropsychology in the local diagnosis of brain damage. Cortex, 1964, 1, 3-18.
18. McFie, J. Assessment of Organic Intellectual Impairment, Academic Press, London, 1975.
19. Meadows, J.C. The anatomical basis of prosopagnosia, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. 1974. 27. 489-501.
20. Meyer, V. and Jones, H.G. Patterns of cognitive test performance as functions of the lateral localization of cerebral abnormalities in the temporal lobe. In H.L. Smith and M. J. Phillips (Eds), Neuropsychological Testing in Organic Dysfunction, 1969, Charles C. Thomas Thomas, Springfield, Ill., 101-121.
21. Milner, B. Intellectual functions of the temporal lobes. Psychological Bulletin, 1954, 151, 46-52.
22. Milner, B. Psychological defects produced by temporal lobe excision. Proceedines of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases, 1958, 36, 244-257.
23. Milner, B. Impairment of visnal recognition and recall after right temporal lobectomy in man. Paper read at First Annual Meeting of Psychonomic Society, Chicago, 1960.
24. Milner, B. Laterality effects in audition. In Interhemispheric Relations and Cerebral Dominance. V.B. Mountcastle (Eds.). Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1962.
25. Milner, B. In Neuropsychologia, 1965,3,317.
26. Milner, B. Visual recognition and recall after right temporal excision in man. Neuropsychologia, 1968, 6, 191-209.
27. Milner, B. Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man. British Medical Bulletin, 1971, 27, 272-277.
28. Milner, B. and Teuber, H.L. Alteration of perception and memory in man: Reflections on methods. In Heiskrantz L. (Ed.) Analysis of Behavior Change, Harper & Row, New York, 1968.
29. Mroziak, J. Disorders of nonverbal recent memory in patients following a unilateral resection of temporal lobes. Studia Psychologiczne, 1973, 12, 167-186.
30. Newcombe, Freda Selective deficits after focal cerebral injury. In S.J. Dimond and J.G. Beaumont (Eds.), Hemisphere function in the human brain, 1974, Elek Science, London.
31. Oxbury, J.M. and Oxbury, S.N. Effects of temporary lobectomy on the report of dichotically presented digits. Cortex, 1969, 5, 3-14.
32. Penfield, W. and Roberts, L., Speech and Brain Mechanisms, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1959.
33. Piercy, M., The effects of cerebral lesions on intellectual functions: a review of current research trends. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1964, 119, 310-352.
34. Rausch, R. Cognitive strategies in patients with unilateral temporal lobe excisions. Neuropsychologia, 1977, 385-395.
35. Reitan, R.H. The effects of brain lesions on the adaptive abilities of human beings, Indiana Univ. Medical Center, Indianopolis, 1959.
36. Samuels, I., Butters, N., and Fedio, P. Short-term memory disorders following temporal lobe removals in humans. Cortex, 1972, 8, 283-298.
37. Shalman, D.C. The diagnostic use of the Mcgill Picture Anomalies Test in temporal epilepsy. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry., 1961, 24, 220-222.
38. Shankweiler, D. Effects of temporal lobe damage on perception of dichotically presented melodies, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1966, 62, 115-119.
39. Warrington, E.K. Unpublished research data (undated).
40. Harrington, E.K. and James, M. An experimental investigation of facial recognition in patients with unilateral cerebral lesions. Cortex, 1967, 3, 317-326.
41. Yin, R.K. Looking at upside-down faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 81, 141-145.
42. Yin, R.K. Face recognition by brain-injured patients: A dissociable disability? Neuropsychologia, 1970, 80 396-402.