BA grant on progressive limb apraxia

The present study is among the first to undertake a systematic longitudinal investigation of primary progressive apraxia. The participant, C.S. (DOB: 23/08/40), has a progressive neurological condition causing ‘primary’ progressive motor aphasia and a range of apraxias resulting from predominantly fronto-temporal brain degeneration. Significantly, exhaustive testing demonstrates that he does not have dementia (Code et al., 2006): memory, intellect, semantic system and knowledge of the world are significantly intact. He thus presents a unique opportunity to track the gradual deterioration of action skills over time, relate this to his problems of action execution and examine the temporal relationship of damage to separate components of the action system. This will be the first such detailed longitudinal analysis of apraxia in a case of fronto-temporal progressive disease.

We have systematically tracked C.S.’s apraxias from December, 2001 to December, 2004 with video recording of testing on a broad range of standard and new tests of the action system, including tests of transitive/intransitive action production/comprehension, meaningless actions and action sequencing, tests from the Florida Apraxia Test - Revised (Rothi et al., 1988) and tests of oculomotor, orofacial and whole-body apraxias. We have amassed over 25 hours of recorded testing covering 3 years, plus data from 28 non-apraxic participants. We seek support to employ an experienced research fellow who will transfer the material to computerised Movie Pro format, organising separate tests used in separate sessions in date order, and conduct a quantitative and qualitative error analysis and conduct inter-rater and intra-rater reliability testing using three experienced raters. Examinations of rater reliability are rare in studies of apraxia and we see this as an important inclusion.  Results will produce at least one major paper, submitted to an appropriate refereed journal, which will examine quantitative and qualitative change over time and contribute to knowledge of the nature of the action production system and its relationship to other cognitive systems, including speech production.

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