Types of acquired dyslexia in Spanish-speaking patients with aphasia.

The different types of acquired dyslexia described by cognitive neuropsychology have been observed in single-case and case series studies in different languages. However, no multipatient study of Spanish-speaking individuals has been reported that uses the same criteria and tasks to identify each participant's acquired dyslexia pattern. In this study, we analyzed participants' performance in three tasks (oral reading of words and nonwords, visual lexical decision with pseudohomophones, and written homophone comprehension) among 16 Spanish-speaking patients with aphasia. We identified 9 patients with acquired phonological dyslexia, 3 with acquired surface dyslexia, and 4 with acquired mixed dyslexia. The results of this research provide more information about the relative frequency of each type of acquired dyslexia in Spanish, which could be used to help design more appropriate treatments for rehabilitation. Identifying which processes have been impaired and which have been preserved will allow professionals to plan more specific interventions.

Dissociation between facial and bodily expressions in emotion recognition: A case study.

OBJECTIVE: Existing single-case studies have reported deficit in recognizing basic emotions through facial expression and unaffected performance with body expressions, but not the opposite pattern. The aim of this paper is to present a case study with impaired emotion recognition through body expressions and intact performance with facial expressions. METHODS: In this single-case study we assessed a 30-year-old patient with autism spectrum disorder, without intellectual disability, and a healthy control group (n = 30) with four tasks of basic and complex emotion recognition through face and body movements, and two non-emotional control tasks. To analyze the dissociation between facial and body expressions, we used Crawford and Garthwaite's operational criteria, and we compared the patient and the control group performance with a modified one-tailed t-test designed specifically for single-case studies. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between the patient's and the control group's performances on the non-emotional body movement task or the facial perception task. For both kinds of emotions (basic and complex) when the patient's performance was compared to the control group's, statistically significant differences were only observed for the recognition of body expressions. There were no significant differences between the patient's and the control group's correct answers for emotional facial stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed a profile of impaired emotion recognition through body expressions and intact performance with facial expressions. This is the first case study that describes the existence of this kind of dissociation pattern between facial and body expressions of basic and complex emotions.

Disociaciones entre prosodia emocional y lingüística en pacientes con lesiones cerebrales del hemisferio derecho / Dissociations between emotional and linguistic prosody in patients with right hemisphere lesions

El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar patrones de disociación entre el procesamiento de prosodia lingüística y emocional con el fin de analizar la independencia funcional entre ambos. Se realizó un estudio con un diseño de múltiples casos únicos de 17 pacientes con lesiones del hemisferio derecho debidas a accidente cerebro vascular. Se analizaron los perfiles de alteración/ conservación de la capacidad para procesar ambos tipos de prosodia con cuatro pruebas de comprensión y repetición de prosodia emocional y lingüística, y se comparó el rendimiento de cada paciente con un grupo control sano. Los resultados mostraron rendimiento disociado entre prosodia emocional y lingüística en la habilidad de comprensión prosódica en 3/17 pacientes y no se hallaron disociaciones dobles. El hallazgo de distintos patrones de alteración/conservación entre prosodia lingüística y emocional, tanto en la habilidad para comprender como para repetir prosodia, es evidencia que apoya el supuesto de independencia funcional entre los procesamientos de ambos tipos de prosodia.

The goal of this study was to evaluate dissociation patterns between processing of linguistic prosody and emotional (or affective) prosody, in order to analyze the functional independence between them. We carried out a multiple single-cases study of 17 patients with right hemisphere lesions due to stroke. The alteration / conservation profiles of the ability to process both types of prosody were analyzed with four tasks of comprehension and repetition of emotional and linguistic prosody. The performance of each patient was compared with a healthy control group. The results showed a dissociated performance between emotional and linguistic prosody in prosodic comprehension in 3/17 patients, and no double dissociations were found. Finding different patterns of alteration / conservation between linguistic and emotional prosody, both in the ability to understand and to repeat prosody, supports the assumption of functional independence between processing of both types of prosody.

Alteración del reconocimiento de emociones a través de movimientos corporales en traumatismo encéfalo craneano / Emotion recognition deficit from body movements after traumatic brain injury

Varios trabajos han documentado alteración de la capacidad para reconocer emociones como secuela del traumatismo encéfalo craneano (TEC), aunque la mayoría se focalizó en el estudio de las expresiones faciales. En este trabajo se analizó la capacidad para reconocer emociones básicas y complejas a partir de expresiones corporales y faciales, en un paciente con TEC (JA, hombre de 28 años de edad) y en un grupo control. Además se estudió el procesamiento facial y corporal no emocional. Los resultados mostraron afectación en el reconocimiento de emociones básicas y complejas a partir de expresiones corporales, en el paciente, así como dificultades para reconocer expresiones faciales de emociones complejas. JA no tuvo alteraciones en el reconocimiento de expresiones faciales de emociones básicas, ni en el procesamiento facial y corporal no emocional. Estos datos muestran la importancia de ampliar los estudios sobre reconocimiento de emociones, e incluir expresiones corporales además de las faciales.

Several works have documented deficit in emotional recognition after traumatic brain injury (TBI), although most of them focused on facial expressions only. In this study, we analyzed the ability to recognize basic and complex emotions from bodily and facial expressions, in a patient with TBI (JA, a 28 year old man) and a control group. We also studied non-emotional facial and body processing. Results showed deficit in basic and complex emotion recognition from bodily expressions, in the patient, and deficit to recognize facial expression of complex emotions. JA did not have alteration in recognition of facial expressions of basic emotions, and neither in non-emotional facial and body processing. These data show the importance of extending studies about emotional recognition, and include bodily expressions in addition of facial expressions.

Past, present, and future of neuropsychology in Argentina.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the history, current situation, and future challenges of Argentinian neuropsychology. METHOD: A brief historical description highlighting the most representative authors and publications is made. In addition, a survey was administered to a sample of 135 neuropsychologists practicing neuropsychology in Argentina. The survey explored the current neuropsychological practices among the respondents. RESULTS: Results show that most Argentinian neuropsychologists are: psychologists, women, and work in the clinical field in the country's major cities. Besides, the practice of neuropsychology is mostly unregulated with few training opportunities. CONCLUSIONS: Argentinian neuropsychology emerged from neurology in the early twentieth century and slowly progressed until the 1960s when the first organized research groups were created. Since then, a substantial and steady progress followed. However, more training opportunities and a better regulation of the discipline are needed. No similar studies have been conducted in the past, thus becoming one of the first to describe the development of neuropsychology in Argentina.

Alexia fonológica y alexia de superficie en hispanohablantes / Alexia fonológica e alexia de superfície em falantes de espanhol / Phonological alexia y surface alexia in Spanish-speaking patients

Apresentam-se estudos de casos de pacientes afásicos falantes de espanhol que mostram duas diferentes formas de alteração da leitura. O paciente LT apresenta um quadro compatível com alexia fonológica e o paciente MM, um quadro compatível com alexia de superfície. Os dois casos representam uma dupla dissociação que é relevante para a discussão sobre a aplicabilidade ao Espanhol da classificação das alexias e dos modelos de dupla rota de leitura propostos pela Neuropsicologia cognitiva. São apresentadas as tarefas necessárias para colocar em evidência estes quadros em pacientes que utilizam um sistema de escrita transparente como o Espanhol e discutem-se como os resultados afetam as propostas teóricas dos modelos de dupla rota e de mediação fonológica obrigatória.(AU)

We present two case studies of aphasic Spanish-speaking patients showing two different forms of alteration in reading ability. Patient LT shows symptoms of phonological alexia, and patient MM shows superficial alexia. Both cases represent a double dissociation that is relevant to the discussion of whether the typology of alexia and the dual-route reading models proposed by cognitive neuropsychology are applicable to Spanish. We present the necessary tests for demonstrating these profiles in patients that use a transparent writing system like Spanish, and we discuss how the results affect the theoretical proposals for the dual-route and obligatory phonological mediation models.(AU)

Una perspectiva cognitiva en el estudio de la comprensión de textos / Uma perspectiva cognitiva no estudo da compreensão de textos / A cognitive perspective in the study of text comprehension

A memória de trabalho e, particularmente, o mecanismo de inibição, tem um papel crucial na compreensão leitora. Nesta pesquisa, visou-se a estudar a relação entre a habilidade de compreensão da leitura e a memória de trabalho, working memory (WM). Testa-se a hipótese de que a dificuldade de inibir informações pode influenciar a compreensão textual. No primeiro experimento, 153 crianças com 9 e 12 anos de idade foram avaliadas com um teste de compreensão escrita e com uma tarefa de WM. No segundo experimento, 24 crianças foram examinadas com o Hayling Test, que investiga a habilidade de inibir respostas verbais. Os resultados evidenciaram uma correlação entre WM e habilidade de compreensão textual. Crianças com dificuldades na compreensão de textos apresentaram um desempenho significativamente inferior nos testes de memória e de inibição, sugerindo que a relação entre o entendimento da leitura e a WM poderia depender de habilidades de inibir informações irrelevantes.(AU)

Working memory and, particularly, the mechanism of inhibition have a crucial role in text comprehension. The aim of this research was to study the relation between the ability of reading comprehension and working memory (WM). We test the hypothesis that difficulty in inhibiting information can influence comprehension. In the first experiment, 153 children aged 9 and 12 years were evaluated with a test of reading comprehension and a WM task. In the second experiment 24 children were evaluated with the Hayling Test that asses the ability to inhibit verbal responses. The results evidence a correlation between WM and text comprehension ability. Children with difficulties in text comprehension obtained a significantly lower performance in memory and inhibition tests, suggesting that the relation between reading understanding and WM could depend on the skills to inhibit irrelevant information.(AU)

Acquired surface alexia in Spanish: a case report.

This paper reports a case study of acquired surface alexia in Spanish and discusses the most suitable tests to detect this syndrome in a writing system that is very regular for reading at the segmental and supra-segmental levels. Patient MM has surface alexia characterized by quantitatively good performance in reading words and pseudowords; accurate but slow and syllabic reading of words, nonwords and sentences; good performance in lexical decision tasks including words and nonwords; errors in lexical decision with pseudohomophones; and homophone confusions. This pattern of reading can be interpreted as a disorder in the lexical reading route and overdependence on the non-lexical route. We discuss nonlexical impairments and the interpretation of alexia and suggest tasks to identify surface alexia in a shallow orthography.

El rol de la información morfológica: evidencias de un caso de alexia / The role of morphological information in the lexicon: evidences from a case of alexia

Los modelos de léxico discuten la posibilidad de que el morfema más que la palabra completa sea la unidad de procesamiento. Se postularon dos tipos de modelos: por un lado, aquellos que proponen que el léxico contiene entradas léxicas completas para las palabras polimorfémicas; por otro, aquellos que asumen que las entradas léxicas corresponden a unidades morfológicamente descompuestas y que es necesario un mecanismo prelexical de descomposición morfológica de los estímulos. Una tercera posición (mixta), derivada de la última asume dos mecanismos de acceso, uno a través de palabra completa (para palabras frecuentes) y otro a través de unidades morfémicas (para palabras poco frecuentes y palabras nuevas), que permiten el acceso a un léxico cuyas representaciones son morfémicas. En este trabajo discutiremos el caso de una paciente con alexia fonológica cuyos resultados en tareas de lectura y decisión léxica de palabras y no palabras pueden explicarse a la luz de este modelo.

Phonological alexia with vowel-consonant dissociation in non-word reading.

We present a patient with alexia secondary to cerebral lesion whose errors in the reading of non-words affect vowels more than consonants. The interest of the case resides in: (1) the documentation of a vowel-consonant dissociation selectively affecting the reading of non-words; and (2) the localization of the alteration in a specific stage of the perilexical reading pathway, that is, the blending of phonetic chains. The case contributes to the discussion on the nature of representations and the processing of vowels and consonants.

La vía directa visual en la ejecución práxica / Direct visual route in praxis execution

En este trabajo reportamos los datos de una paciente apráxica, que presenta una disociación entre el rendimiento para la realización de gestos a partir de la imagen visual del objeto con respecto a su rendimiento a partir de otras modalidades de ingreso de la información (visual gestual, visuotáctil). Estos hallazgos refuerzan la hipótesis de Riddoch & col (1989) y Rumiati & Humphreys (1998) sobre la existencia de una vía visual directa que conecta las descripciones estructurales de los objetos y el sistema de acción.

Hipótesis de la suma: evidencias aportadas por las alteraciones de la producción oral en un paciente afásico de conducción hispanoparlante / Summation hypothesis: evidence from deficits in oral production of a conduction aphasic spanish-speaking patient

Se evaluó la producción oral de un paciente, AO, mediante pruebas léxicas (denominación, lectura y repetición de palabras) y subléxicas (lectura y repetición de no-palabras). Los resultados sugieren la presencia de un déficit en el buffer fonológico, y una alteración leve del léxico fonológico de salida. En este trabajo, se discute la capacidad de los modelos de múltiples etapas en la producción oral, y de la Hipótesis de la Suma (Hillis & Caramazza 1991, 1993, 1995; Miceli, Giustolisi & Caramazza 1991; Miceli, Capasso & Caramazza 1994) para explicar los déficits encontrados en este paciente.

Rehabilitación neuropsicológica en un caso de asterognosia / Neuropsychological rehabilitation in a case of asterognosia

Presentamos el caso de una paciente de 67 años, con un cuadro de trastornos en el reconocimiento táctil con la mano izquierda, en ausencia de perturbaciones de la sensibilidad, déficit motor, ataxia, apraxia, déficit atencional o trastornos en la denominación (asterognosia), posterior a un ACV. Sobre la base de los datos aportados por la paciente analizamos, en comparación con los modelos existentes los distintos factores que influyen en el reconocimiento táctil. Comunicamos los resultados de un ensayo terapéutico controlado, con una mejoría en el rendimiento estadísticamente significativa después de 5 meses de rehabilitación...