People with stroke, Parkinson Disease and its “cousins”, Huntington Disease, traumatic brain injury and even disorders like Alzheimer Disease can cause trouble with using tools well; with mobility in the arms and legs for dressing, standing, walking, and other basic tasks; and with functional vision for navigating in the home, neighborhood or in new environments.
More challenging than these limitations is the fact that most people with these problems are not fully aware of their own errors. Some sufferers will completely deny that they are weak or have problems with movements or vision, which can dismay and embarrass family members. Evidence seems to indicate that their inability to see mistakes is more than a protective psychological reaction, but is part of the brain disorder itself.
In this segment, we will talk about why the brain “fools us” into thinking our functional vision and movement is normal in the presence of neurological disease, and what this means for professional caregivers, families, and our medical culture and society, since patient self-reporting is now a major source of information about public health needs and treatment efficacy.
Guest Info
Originally from South Bend, Indiana, Anna M. Barrett, MD is a cognitive neurologist and clinical researcher, and Director of Stroke Rehabilitation Research at Kessler Research Center. She is also a Stroke Program leader and Co-Director in the Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation, and Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ-NJMS). Her clinical and research focus is on brain-behavior relationships from a cognitive neurology, cognitive neuroscience, and cognitive neurorehabilitation perspective.
A member of the American Academy of Neurology (Behavioral Neurology and Neural Repair and Rehabilitation sections, Executive Committee), the American Society of Neurorehabilition (President 2010-2012), and the International Neuropsychological Society (first INS early career award, 2008), Dr. Barrett completed undergraduate work at Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, medical school training at New York University School of Medicine, neurology residency training at Columbia-Presbyterian/The Neurological Institute, and fellowship in Behavioral Neurology/ Neuropsychology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. She received the 2007 Norman Geschwind Prize from the American Academy of Neurology for outstanding behavioral neurology research, and her work has been continuously funded by the NIH since she founded an independent laboratory in 1999. Currently, she mentors students, resident physicians, and post-doctoral trainees in translational neuroscience of rehabilitation. Her publications span all domains of post-stroke cognitive dysfunction, but emphasize hidden disabilities of functional vision (spatial bias and spatial neglect). Other research studies concern hidden disabilities affecting speech and language (aphasia) and memory.
