CASE-REPORT OF A MASSIVE CONGENITAL LEFT-HEMISPHERE LESION - SUPPORT FOR THE CROWDING HYPOTHESIS

We report the case of a 39-year-old woman with a massive congenital le ft hemisphere lesion whose neuropsychological performance conforms inc onsistently to expectations based on the crowding hypothesis. Indeed, rather than indicating an exclusive crowding of functions normally ass ociated with the right hemisphere, her pattern of deficit is suggestiv e of subtle left hemisphere dysfunction (the site of the structural le sion) in the context of preserved language function, along with subtle right hemisphere dysfunction. However, the most striking aspect of th is case is the overall preservation of function. The relative deficits are so subtle (with the exception of the fused dichotic listening per formance) that, in the absence of prior knowledge regarding the lesion , many would have described said deficits as simply manifestations of individual variation.