Functions

• How we know what we are doing within our environment (Consciousness)
• How we initiate activity in response to our environment
• Judgments we make about what occurs in our daily activities
• Controls our emotional response
• Controls our expressive language
• Assigns meaning to the words we choose
• Involves word associations
• Memory for habits and for motor activities

Possible Consequences of Injury

• Loss of simple movement of various body parts (Paralysis)
• Inability to plan a sequence of complex movements needed to complete multi-stepped tasks, such as making coffee (Sequencing)
• Loss of spontaneity in interacting with others
• Loss of flexibility in thinking
• Persistence of a single thought (Perseveration)
• Inability to focus on task (Attending)
• Mood changes (Emotionally Labile)
• Changes in social behaviour
• Changes in personality
• Difficulty with problem-solving
• Inability to express language (Broca’s Aphasia)

Functions

• Visual attention
• Touch perception
• Goal-directed voluntary movements
• Manipulation of objects
• Integration of different senses, allowing for understanding a single concept

Possible Consequences of Injury

• Inability to attend to more than one object at a time
• Inability to name an object (Anomia)
• Inability to locate the words for writing (Agraphia)
• Problems with reading (Alexia)
• Difficulty with drawing objects
• Difficulty in distinguishing Left from Right
• Difficulty with doing mathematics (Dyscalculia)
• Lack of awareness of certain body parts and/or surrounding space (Apraxia), what leads to difficulties in self-care
• Inability to focus visual attention
• Difficulties with eye and hand coordination

These difficulties may or may not appear and if they do, can present to varying degrees.

Functions

• Vision

Possible Consequences of Injury

• Defects in vision (Visual Field Cuts)
• Difficulty with locating objects in the environment

Sometimes (But Rarely) Associated With The Following:

• Difficulty with identifying colours (Color Agnosia)
• Production of hallucinations
• Visual illusions – inaccurately seeing objects
• Word blindness – inability to recognize words
• Difficulty in recognizing drawn objects
• Difficulties with reading and writing
• Inability to recognize the movement of an object (Movement Agnosia)

These difficulties may or may not appear and if they do, can present to varying degrees.

Functions

• Hearing ability
• Acquisition of memory
• Some visual perceptions
• Categorization of objects

Possible Consequences of Injury

• Difficulty in recognizing faces (Prosopagnosia)
• Difficulty in understanding spoken words (Wernicke’s Aphasia)
• Disturbance with selective attention to what we see and hear
• Difficulty with identification of, and verbalization about, objects.
• Short-term memory loss
• Interference with long-term memory
• Inability to categorize objects (Categorization)

These difficulties may or may not appear and if they do, can present to varying degrees.

Functions

• Coordination of voluntary movement
• Balance and equilibrium
• Some memory for reflex motor acts

Possible Consequences of Injury

• Loss of ability to coordinate fine movements
• Loss of ability to walk
• Inability to reach out and grab objects
• Tremors
• Dizziness (Vertigo)
• Slurred Speech (Scanning Speech)
• Inability to make rapid movements

These difficulties may or may not appear and if they do, can present to varying degrees.

Functions

• Breathing
• Heart Rate
• Swallowing
• Reflexes to seeing and hearing (Startle Response)
• Controls sweating, blood pressure, digestion, temperature (Autonomic Nervous System)
• Affects level of alertness
• Ability to sleep
• Sense of balance (Vestibular Function)

Possible Consequences of Injury

• Decreased vital capacity in breathing, important for speech
• Swallowing food and water (Dysphagia)
• Problems with balance and movement
• Dizziness and nausea (Vertigo)
• Sleeping difficulties (e.g., Insomnia, sleep apnea)

These difficulties may or may not appear and if they do, can present to varying degrees.