Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T02:42:46.731Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Alternative brain organization after prenatal cerebral injury: Convergent fMRI and cognitive data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2003

JOAN STILES
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego
PAMELA MOSES
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego
KATHERINE ROE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego
NATACHA A. AKSHOOMOFF
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego Children's Hospital Research Center, San Diego
DORIS TRAUNER
Affiliation:
Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego
JOHN HESSELINK
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego
ERIC C. WONG
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego
LAWRENCE R. FRANK
Affiliation:
Veterans Administration, San Diego Health Care System
RICHARD B. BUXTON
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego

Abstract

The current study presents both longitudinal behavioral data and functional activation data documenting the effects of early focal brain injury on the development of spatial analytic processing in two children, one with prenatal left hemisphere (LH) injury and one with right hemisphere (RH) injury. A substantial body of evidence has shown that adults and children with early, lateralized brain injury show evidence of spatial analytic deficits. LH injury compromises the ability to encode the parts of a spatial pattern, while RH injury impairs pattern integration. The two children described in this report show patterns of deficit consistent with the site of their injury. In the current study, their longitudinal behavioral data spanning the age range from preschool to adolescence are presented in conjunction with data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of spatial processing. The activation results provide evidence that alternative profiles of neural organization can arise following early focal brain injury, and document where in the brain spatial functions are carried out when regions that normally mediate them are damaged. In addition, the coupling of the activation with the behavioral data allows us to go beyond the simple mapping of functional sites, to ask questions about how those sites may have come to mediate the spatial functions. (JINS, 2003, 9, 604–622.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2003 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)