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Effects of Right and Left Unilateral Ect on Naming and Visual Discrimination Analysed in Relation to Handedness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Marian Annett
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, University of Hull, HU6 7RX
P. T. W. Hudson
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, University of Hull, HU6 7RX
Ann Turner
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, University of Hull, HU6 7RX

Extract

The use of unilateral ECT as a method of exploring differences between the functions of the cerebral hemispheres has been suggested by Pratt et al. (1971). These authors found a greater impairment on a test of naming and a tendency to slower return to consciousness after left-sided than after right-sided treatments. Assuming that these effects depend on left hemisphere language specialization, they went on to use them as possible indicators of cerebral dominance for speech in left handers. The present enquiry was designed to explore these differences further by comparing patients immediately after right-sided and left-sided ECT for their ability to name objects and to make visual discriminations and for their time of recovery. Handedness was assessed through a measure of relative manual speed as well as by the usual questions of preference and family handedness. The speed differences give a continuous measure of degrees of right and left handedness which can be correlated with measures of differences between the effects of right-sided and left-sided ECT.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

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References

Annett, M. (1970). ‘A classification of hand preference by association analysis.’ British Journal of Psychology, 61, 303–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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Pratt, R. T. C., Warrington, E. K., and Halliday, A. M. (1971). ‘Unilateral ECT as a test for cerebral dominance, with a strategy for treating left handers.’ British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 7983.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pratt, R. T. C., Warrington, E. K. (1972). ‘The assessment of cerebral dominance with unilateral ECT.’ British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 327–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zangwill, O. L. (1967). ‘Speech and the minor hemisphere.’ Acta Neurologica et Psychiatrica Belgica, 67, 1013–20.Google ScholarPubMed
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