BRADYKINESIA AND BRADYPHRENIA REVISITED - PATTERNS OF SUBCLINICAL DEFICIT IN MOTOR SPEED AND COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING IN HEAD-INJURED PATIENTSWITH GOOD RECOVERY

Twenty-four patients, showing a good clinical recovery from coma-induc ing injury and coping well with the activities of everyday living, wer e tested, at least 1 year after trauma, on motor speed and reaction ti me, and given a neuropsychological examination. While the patients gen erally performed within the normal range on the neuropsychological tes ts, their motor speeds and reaction times-both simple (SRT) and comple x (CRT)-were significantly slower than those of matched controls. This points to a subclinical bradykinesia. The patients' motor speed score s did not correlate significantly with any of the neuropsychological t ests; nor did SRT or CRT. While the difference between simple and comp lex reaction time was significantly greater in the patient group, the percentage difference was not significantly different between the two groups. Collectively, these results suggest that bradykinesia and brad yphrenia do not necessarily overlap. Finally, there was no significant correlation between motor performance and severity of original injury , whether the latter was measured by number and size of lesions or by duration of post-traumatic amnesia.