Anna Basso, Monica Corno, and Paola Marangolo Evolution of Oral and Written Confrontation Naming Errors in Aphasia. Oxford This paper reviews outcome studies of wartime head-injury in Europe and North America. This cohort was initially examined in 1963 and thereafter until the present day.
Behavioural outcome is remarkably good.
Cognitive data show a striking preservation of ability in the group as a whole, despite previously reported selective impairments related to specific loci of lesion. This positive outcome is attributed to a number of factors, including the psychosocial context of World War II for British servicemen, the expert and systematic medical care that commenced within hours of wounding, and the positive attitude of the civilian population. Memory functioning was tested following injection of the internal carotid artery contralateral and ipsilateral to the side of seizure focus. In both cases, patients with PCA filling observed using conventional angiography showed a greater memory deficit, although this effect was more robust with contralateral injections. In a subsample of patients with left hemisphere dominance for language, the effect of PCA filling on memory performance was only significant when the right hemisphere was injected.