Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuro-oncological and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Neuro-oncological and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Unit, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
Neuropsychologia. 2018 Nov;120:124-136. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.10.012. Epub 2018 Oct 22.
Representations of own and others' body play a crucial role in social interaction. While extensive knowledge has been gathered on the neuropsychological deficits affecting body representation in adult brain lesion patients, little is known on how acquired damage to a developing brain may affect this process. We tested it on pediatric brain tumor survivors, comparing the abilities of 30 children and adolescents (aged 8-16 years) surviving from a supratentorial tumor (STT) or an infratentorial tumor (ITT) in two different tasks of body representation. Thirty children with typical development (TD) served as control group. In the first task, we tested configural (body inversion effect) and holistic (composite illusion effect) processing of others' bodies. In the second task, we tested the ability to perform first-person and object-based mental spatial transformations of own body and external objects, respectively. Configural processing was spared in all patients. Conversely, ITT, but not STT patients, were impaired in the holistic processing of body stimuli. STT patients performed overall worse than both controls and ITT patients at mental spatial transformations of both own body and external objects. ITT children presented selective alteration in using the first-person transformation strategies with body stimuli. Results suggest that body-representation abilities may be heavily affected in pediatric brain tumor survivors. STTs may be associated to greater difficulties in mental visuo-spatial transformation abilities, likely reflecting damage to fronto-parietal circuits. Conversely, ITTs may be associated to specific disturbances of visual body perception abilities that require motor simulation processes, reflecting direct or indirect damage to cerebellar areas.
自身和他人身体的表象在社会互动中起着至关重要的作用。虽然已经积累了大量关于影响成人脑损伤患者身体表象的神经心理学缺陷的知识，但对于发育中的大脑获得性损伤如何影响这一过程知之甚少。我们在儿科脑瘤幸存者身上进行了测试，比较了 30 名（年龄在 8-16 岁之间）来自幕上肿瘤（STT）或幕下肿瘤（ITT）的儿童和青少年在身体表象的两个不同任务中的能力。30 名具有典型发育（TD）的儿童作为对照组。在第一个任务中，我们测试了他人身体的构形（身体反转效应）和整体（复合错觉效应）处理。在第二个任务中，我们测试了分别对自身身体和外部物体进行第一人称和基于物体的心理空间转换的能力。所有患者的构形处理都未受损。相反，ITT 患者而不是 STT 患者在身体刺激的整体处理中受损。STT 患者在自身身体和外部物体的心理空间转换方面的表现均明显差于对照组和 ITT 患者。ITT 儿童在使用身体刺激的第一人称转换策略时表现出选择性改变。结果表明，身体表象能力可能在儿科脑瘤幸存者中受到严重影响。STT 可能与心理视空间转换能力的更大困难有关，这可能反映了额顶叶回路的损伤。相反，ITT 可能与视觉身体感知能力的特定障碍有关，这些障碍需要运动模拟过程，反映出小脑区域的直接或间接损伤。
