Naslov
Changes of attention and memory in a group of patients with multiple sclerosis

Autori
Jančuljak, D ; Mubrin, Z. ; Brinar, V. ; Spilich, G.

Izvornik
Clinical neurology and Neurosurgery (0303-8467) 104 (2002), 3; 221-228

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
MS; Cognition; Memory; Attention; Information processing

Sažetak
The major cognitive deficit in MS due to demyelination is slowing of the speed of information processing, related to focused attention and the simplest form of explicit memory (symbol recognition). Pure cognitive speed during controlled conscious information processing systems may be expained by their different anatomical and functional organization in the central nervous system. Explicit memory function may be affected by slowness of information processing. If there is a time imit set, patients with MS may seem less effective on short term memory tasks. In fact, their short term memory capacity is ikely to be spared, but the retrieval of data may be hampered by general cognitive slowness. Duration of illness rather than the clinical course, is the best predictor for the development of this subclinical cognitive change. Specific alteration of space-directed attention may occur in patients with MS, due to lesions in the non- dominant hemishpere. This could affect their implicit memory and cause impairment of motor skills task performance with the non- dominant hand. Residual motor deficit may also contribute to the poor motor performance of those patients, but cannot explain the lateralization of implicit memory dysfunction.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kliničke medicinske znanosti

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