Neuropsychological Mechanism of Perceptual Disorder

Lee, S H; Park, Y Z; Kim, D W; Park, H J; Kim, J W

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We studied correlations between neuropsychological tests and perceptual disorder in patients with head trauma and psychiatric patients in order to explore the functional localization of brain in perceptual disorders.
METHODS
Halstead Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery, Korean Wechsler Intelligent Scale, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were administered to one hundred nineteen patients consisting of sixty nine psychiatric patients and fifty patients with brain damage. We tested the correlation between results of neuropsychological tests and peceptual disorder scale (PDS) made from nine items related with perceptual disorder in MMPI. T-tests between twenty one higher scorers and seventeen lower scorers of PDS were also performed in the psychiatric group.
RESULTS
In brain damage group, significant correlations were found in tests related with function of frontal lobe such as category tests, trail making tests, tactual performance test, and fingertip number writing test, and significant correlations were also noted in the tests ralated with function of right hemisphere such as tactual performance test, performance, picture completion, picture arrangement and block design. Tests related with subcortical function such as digit symbol test, arithmetic and digit span were signigicantly correlated, too. In psychiatric group, there were significant differences of PDS in the tests related with function of right hemisphere such as picture completion, block design, and right laterality index, and in the tests related with function of left hemisphere such as comprehension, vocabulary, and similarities.
CONCLUSION
Perceptual disorder seems to be related with functions of frontal lobe, right hemisphere, and subcortex in both groups. In a psychiatric group, left hemisphere may be also partially related with perceptual disorder.