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The Use of Imagery on Brain Damaged Patients Rehabilitation of brain-damaged patients has become the field for a deep investigation of modern neuro psychologists all over the world. This aspect of neuropsychology which occupied attention of many scientists is imagery. The thing is that imagery has a strong impact on the psychic processes which occur in mind of a brain-damaged patient. Brain damage causes disability, mental disorders or mental disease etc. Brain damage may result in agnosia. Depending on the area which is damaged agnosia can take lots of forms.
It brings a disorder of brains visual processing system. Bill After, a spokesman for Headway, the brain injury association, characterised this condition as an inability to recognise and identify objects or persons despite having knowledge of the characteristics of the objects or persons. [ 1 ]. One of the brightest cases of visual agnosia was described in Altered images for brain damage patients. [ 1 ]. This article tells the story about Philip, a man of 40, who suffered agnosia after the car accident which happened with him 24 years ago. Then Philip had much difficulty to recognise real animals, he could not tell which of them were fake. Also Philip was not able to recognise familiar faces, including members of his family, his close friends, until he heard their voices.
Dr Ros McCarthy, a neuro psychologist at the University of Cambridge who is working with Philip said: He goes home and knows the woman there is probably the same one he has always lived with but is not totally sure until she speaks. [ 1 ]. Philip recognised movements and voices but, obviously, he confused visual images of faces. Dr Ros McCarthy added: Likewise he has problems identifying some animals and fruit and vegetables. He will look at a sheep or deer or even a bear and say that they are fantastical creatures, but they do not really exist. [ 1 ]. Philip was shown a picture of a been, an unreal animal, which was the part of ibex and a part of baboon. He assumed that it might be something you shoot in Scotland.
So I believe he had confused it with a deer, said Dr McCarthy. She added: He also thought another creature, a 'bunnyphant' a mixture of rabbit and elephant - was a real thing, " [ 1 ]. Dr McCarthy offered the following explanation for Philips state of mind. The reason Philip and others with visual agnosia have these strange visual worlds is that they have lost the normal long-term "memory banks" we use when recognising visual information. [ 1 ]. However, Philips temporary memory was not lost. He used it in his recognition.
Dr McCarthy gave the following example: When there is an advertising campaign going on for Penguins, he can name penguin pictures, but he always comes up with the advertising slogan. Dr McCarthy believed that Philip simply did not have a sense of familiarity for animals. [ 1 ]. Philips story may serve as an example of only one kind of agnosia. Other visual agnostics can have opposite problems, and additional difficulties in communication, loss of daily memory. Dr McCarthy said agnosia could not be cured. You cant change them but you can help them [visual agnostics] to cope better to recognise what the issue is, and to find ways around the problem she resumed. [ 1 ].
Today imagery suggests lots of visual aids for brain damaged patients. Films, computer programmes, internet means of virtual reality simulation, in whole, - can help these people to understand the condition. A group of neuro psychologists - Morganti F, Gaggioli A, Castelnuovo G, Bulla D, Vettorello M, Riva G (2003) proved the efficiency of the use of imagery for brain damaged patients in the article The use of technology-supported mental imagery in neurological rehabilitation: a research protocol. [ 3 ]. The argumentation in their article began from the well known fact: the human brain can simulate motor actions without physically executing them; and there is a neuro-psychological relationship between imaging and performing a movement. Then they noted that there is scientific evidence showing that the mental simulation of an action is correlated to a subliminal activation of a motor system.
There is also evidence that virtual simulation can enhance the acquisition of simple motor sequences. [ 3 ]. According to the studies of the brain damaged patients, it is known that these patients are still able to generate motor images even if they can not perform these actions. The neuro psychologists concluded that these observations suggest that supporting mental imagery through non-immersive, low-cost virtual reality (VR) applications may be a potentially effective intervention in the rehabilitation of brain-injured patients. [ 3 ]. Thus the goal of modern neuro psychologists which work in the frames of imagery is to develop a new technique for acquisition of new motor abilities imagery enhanced learning (I-learning). [ 3 ]. Morganti F, Gaggioli A, Castelnuovo G, Bulla D, Vettorello M, Riva G explained the mechanism of using I-learning in the treatment of brain-damaged patients.
They emphasized that I-learning is a potentially low-cost technology of Virtual Reality. It facilitates motor imagery and creates a sense of presence. The treatment strategy, according to their article, aims at evoking powerful imaginative responses using an innovative technique. This technique does not simulate real-world motor behavior, but draws the patient's attention its underlying dynamic structure. This can be achieved by displaying sketches of the motor behavior on a computer screen. Gradually the perceptual realism of these sketches is increased.
I-learning, following the ideas of Morganti F, Gaggioli A, Castelnuovo G, Bulla D, Vettorello M, Riva G, will help brain damaged patients to elaborate their own schema and sequences of movements, and also patients will be able to construct their own personal image of the motor behavior to be trained. [ 3 ]. The same ideas were further developed by a another group of neuro psychologists G. Riva, C. Botella, P. Legeron and G. Optale in 2004.
They claimed that Among these applications virtual reality seems to have a specific role in assessment and treatment of neuropsychological diseases. [ 2; Introduction ] VR gives the possibility to have a new human-interaction type. The user body can interact with the virtual environment (VE). This aspect has a great value for patients who need to substitute impaired actions with alternative possibilities for movements. But VR is not equivalent to the natural environment. VR creates the environments through which is possible to have obvious experiences well designed for our goals. [ 3 ]. So G.
Riva, C. Botella, P. Legeron and G. Optale made the following conclusion.
Virtual Reality allows to create multimodal stimulation for a patient. This stimulation can supply patients with a great sense of involvement in action. This stimulation has some advantages. First of all it will not over-stimulate the perceptive system. And, what is also important, it provides patients with behaviour cues on multiple or alternative sensory ways. Finally, virtual environments give the opportunity of situate patients within settings that in not simulated environment could be unapproachable, dangerous or stressful for them. [ 3 ].
Furthermore, some resent studies show that the application of Virtual Reality in rehabilitation enables a patient not only to acquire knowledge in VR. But also this acquired knowledge can be transferred in real life. [ 3 ]. Thus, imagery today is a promising scientific sphere and a widely-used technique in psychological treatment of brain-damaged patients. In future it may help to cure a large number of mental disorders. Bibliography: Altered images for brain damage patients. BBC NEWS.
Saturday, 2 February, 2002, Retrieved November 18, 2004 from web G. Riva, C. Botella, P. Legeron and G. Optale. (2004). Internet and Virtual Reality as Assessment and Rehabilitation Tools for Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience.
Cyber therapy. Amsterdam, IOS Press, 2004, 2005, 2006. Abstract retrieved November 18, 2004, from web Morganti F, Gaggioli A, Castelnuovo G, Bulla D, Vettorello M, Riva G. (2003). The use of technology-supported mental imagery in neurological rehabilitation: a research protocol. Cyberpsychol Behav. Aug; 6 (4): 421 - 7.
Retrieved November 18, 2004, from web
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Research essay sample on The Use Of Imagery On Brain Damaged Patients
