Simultaneous and successive cognitive processes in brain damaged adults: Hemispheric and anterior-posterior effects

Abstract

The relationship between simultaneous and successive processing and their assumed underlying neuro-anatomical structures was examined. According to the model of Das, Kirby, and Jarman (1975, 1979) simultaneous processing, occurs mainly in the posterior parts of the brain (parieto-occipital areas) and successive processing in anterior regions of the brain (fronto-temporal areas). The theory of lateralized hemispheric specialization suggests differences in processing due to right-left hemispheric differences. A battery of measures was factor-analyzed and simultaneous and successive factors identified in 106 brain-damaged adults and a control group. The brain damaged group was divided into four subgroups, left and right anterior and left and right posterior groups. The two-way ANOVA revealed no interactions (laterality x anterior/posterior), but instead two main effects for laterality on simultaneous verbal (p<.01) and successive (p<.05) processing and one weak (p<. 10) main effect for anterior/posterior divisions of simultaneous nonverbal processing. It was concluded that the results partially supported both assumed neuropsychological models of processing.

A review and empirical study of the composite scales of the Das&ndash;Naglieri cognitive assessment system

“…In a large adult sample of brain-injured patients Aysto and Hanninen found that left hemisphere-lesioned patients were significantly more impaired than the right hemisphere counterparts on successive processing 89. Similarly, a trend for regional specificity was also found such that the levels of performance of left posterior patients was less than that of left anterior patients, that these were less than that of right anterior patients, and finally that these were all less than that of right posterior patients.…”

“…The evidence taken as a whole seems to be concordant with this dual processing hypothesis despite the fact that the DN-CAS does not have a nonverbal sequencing tasks included within the standardization battery. Aysto and Hanninen found that their successive factor was sensitive to left hemisphere lesions; however all their successive tasks were verbal 89. Kim and colleagues found that verbal and nonverbal sequencing were impaired by left and right hemisphere lesions, respectively.…”

“…In the CAS there is just one example of a verbal simultaneous subtest, that being the verbal–spatial relations. As an example Aysto and Hanninen found that their “simultaneous verbal” factor was sensitive to left-hemisphere lesions; however their designation of WAIS-R information as a simultaneous-loading variable was questionable 89. It is known that anomia can result from lesions from many regions of the brain 125.…”

“…Aysto and Hanninen demonstrated that a simultaneous verbal factor was highly sensitive to left hemisphere more than right-hemisphere lesions 89. A difference in performance in favor of the right posterior lesions as opposed to left posterior lesions was marginally significant for this simultaneous verbal factor.…”

“…Aysto and Hanninen note that in successive processing the information components are not necessarily related to each other in any systematic way, but may acquire meaning as a result of understanding the whole sequence and subsequent chunking 89. Thus a correlation or a direct association between stimuli is not required at the level of central processing; although once a linguistic or nonverbal sequence has been chunked in long-term memory this may well occur.…”