Abstract
Two of the most important goals of rehabilitation are to (a) reduce everyday consequences of impaired cognitive functioning (disabilities) and (b) reduce the level of handicap (the extent to which these problems prevent successful return to society). One of the ways by which we can achieve these goals is to enable people to compensate for their cognitive deficits. This paper (i) describes a theoretical framework for understanding compensatory behavior, (ii) discusses different forms of compensation, (iii) considers compensation for several cognitive disorders, and (iv) presents suggestions for predicting which patients will find it easy to compensate and which require more intensive and focused rehabilitation.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Albert, M. L. (1979). Alexia. In Heilman, K. M, and Valenstein, E. (eds.), Clinical Neuropsychology, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 59-91.
Anderson, S. W. (1996). Cognitive rehabilitation in closed head injury. In Rizzo, M., and Tranel, D. (eds.), Head Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome, Churchill Livingstone, New York, NY.
Bäckman, L., and Dixon, R. A. (1992). Psychological compensation: A theoretical framework. Psychological Bulletin 112: 259-283.
Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Memory theory and memory therapy. In Wilson, B. A., and Moffat, N. (eds.), Clinical Management of Memory Problems (2nd Ed.), Chapman & Hall, London, pp. 1-31.
Baddeley, A. D., and Wilson, B. A. (1994). When implicit learning fails: Amnesia and the problem of error elimination. Neuropsychologia 32: 53-68.
Camp, C. J. (1989). Facilitation of new learning in Alzheimer' disease. In Gilmore, G., Whitehouse, P., and Wykle, M. (eds.), Memory and Aging: Theory, Research and Practice, Springer, New York, NY.
Camp, C. J., and Schaller, J. R. (1989). Epilogue: Spaced retrieval memory training in an adult day-care center. Educational Gerontology 15: 641-648.
Clare, L., Wilson, B. A., Breen, E. K., and Hodges, J. R. (1999). Learning face-name associations in early Alzheimer' disease. Neurocase 5: 37-46.
Clare, L., Wilson, B. A., Carter, G., Breen, K., Gosses, A., and Hodges, J. R. (2000). Intervening with everyday memory problems in Dementia of Alzheimer Type: An errorless learning approach. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 22: 132-146.
Cole, E., and Dehdashti, P. (1990). Interface design as a prosthesis for an individual with a brain injury. SIGCHI Bulletin 22: 28-32.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of current English (8th Ed.). (1990). Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Evans, J. J. (in press). Rehabilitation of the dysexecutive syndrome. In Wood, R., and McMillan, T. (eds.), Neurobehavioural Difficulty and Social Handicap, Psychology Press, Hove.
Evans, J. J., Emslie, H., and Wilson, B. A. (1998). External cueing systems in the rehabilitation of executive impairments of action. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 4: 399-408.
Farah, M. (1990). Visual Agnosia, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Freed, D. M., Corkin, S., Cohen, N. J. (1998) Forgetting in HM: A second look. Neuropsychologia 25: 461-471.
Hersh, N., and Treadgold, L. (1994). NeuroPage: The rehabilitation of memory dysfunction by prosthetic memory and cueing. NeuroRehabilitation 4: 187-197.
Kime, S. K., Lamb, D. G., and Wilson, B. A. (1996). Use of a comprehensive program of external cuing to enhance procedural memory in a patient with dense amnesia. Brain Injury 10: 17-25.
Kirsch, N. L., Levine, S. P., Fallon-Krueger, M., and Jaros, L. A. (1987). The microcomputer as an ‘orthotic’ device for patients with cognitive deficits. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 2: 77-86.
Kirsch, N. L., Levine, S. P., Lajiness O'Neill, L., and Schnyder, M. (1992). Computer assisted interactive task guidance: Facilitating the performance of a simulated vocational task. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 7: 13-25.
Kolb, B. (1995). Brain Plasticity and Behaviour, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Landauer, T. K., and Bjork, R. A. (1978). Optimum rehearsal patterns and name learning. In Gruneberg, M. M., Morris, P. E., and Sykes, R. N. (eds.), Practical Aspects of Memory, Academic Press, London, pp. 625-632.
Lincoln, N. B. (1989). Management of memory problems in a hospital setting. In Poon, L. W., Rubin, D. C., and Wilson, B. A. (eds.), Everyday Cognition in Adulthood and Late Life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 639-658.
Luria, A. R. (1963). Recovery of Function after Brain Injury, Macmillan, New York, NY.
Luria, A. R., Naydin, V. L., Tsvetkova, L. S., and Vinarskaya, E. N. (1969). Restoration of higher cortical functions following local brain damage. In Vinken, P. J., and Bruyn, G. W. (eds.), Handbook of Clinical Neurology (Vol. 3) Elsevier, New York, NY, pp. 368-433.
McLellan, D. L. (1991). Functional recovery and the principles of disability medicine. In Swash, M., and Oxbury, J. (eds.), Clinical Neurology, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, pp. 768-790.
Moffat, N. (1989). Home based cognitive rehabilitation with the elderly. In Poon, L. W., Rubin, D. C., and Wilson, B. A. (eds.), Everyday Cognition in Adulthood and Late Life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 659-680.
Patterson, K. E., and Wilson, B. A. (1990). A ROSE is a ROSE or a NOSE: A deficit in initial letter identification. Cognitive Neuropsychology 7: 447-477.
Robertson, I. H., and Murre, J. M. J. (1999). Rehabilitation after brain damage: Brain plasticity and principles of guided recovery. Psychological Bulletin 125: 544-575.
Robertson, I. H., and North, N. (1993). Active and passive stimulation of left limbs: Influence on visual and sensory neglect. Neuropsychologia 31: 293-300.
Robertson, I. H., Tegnér, R., Tham, K., Lo, A., and Nimmo-Smith, I. (1995). Sustained attention training for unilateral neglect: Theoretical and rehabilitation implications. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 17: 416-430.
Salthouse, T. A. (1984). Effects of age and skill in typing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113: 345-371.
Schacter, D. L., and Glisky, E. L. (1986). Memory remediation: Restoration, alleviation, and the acquisition of domain specific knowledge. In Uzzell, B., and Gross, Y. (eds.), Clinical Neuropsychology of Intervention, Martinus Nijhoff, Boston, MA, pp. 257-282.
Scoville, W. B. and Milner, B. (1957). Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 20: 11-21.
Stein, D. G., Glasier, M. M., and Hoffman, S. W. (1994). Pharmacological treatments for brain-injury repair: Progress and prognosis. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 4: 337-357.
Taub, E., Miller, N. E., Novack, T. A., Cook, E. W., Fleming, W. C., Nepomuceno, C. S., Connell, J. S., and Crago, J. E. (1993). Technique to improve chronic motor deficit after stroke. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 74: 347-354.
Thomas, C., Altenmuller, E., Marckmann, G., Kahrs, J., and Dichgans, J. (1997). Language processing in aphasia: Changes in lateralisation recovery patterns reflect cerebral plasticity in adults. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 102: 86-97.
Victor, M., Adams, R. D., and Collins, G. H. (1989). The Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome and Related Neurologic disorders Due to Alcoholism and Malnutrition (2nd Ed.), F. A. Davis, Philadelphia, PA.
Warrington, E. K., and Taylor, A. M. (1978). Two categorical stages of object recognition. Perception 7: 695-705.
Weinberg, J., Diller, D., Gordon, W. A., Gerstman, L. J., Lieberman, A., Hodges, G., and Ezrachi, O. (1977). Visual scanning training effect on reading related tasks in acquired right brain damage. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 58: 479-486.
Wilson, B. A. (1984). Memory therapy in practice. In Wilson, B. A., and Moffat, N. (eds.), Clinical Management of Memory Problems Croom Helm, London, pp. 89-111.
Wilson, B. A. (1989). Models of cognitive rehabilitation. In Wood, R. Ll., and Eames, P. (eds.), Models of Brain Injury Rehabilitation, Chapman & Hall, London, pp. 117-141.
Wilson, B. A. (1991). Long term prognosis of patients with severe memory disorders. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 1: 117-134.
Wilson, B. A. (1994). Syndromes of acquired dyslexia: A 6-to 10-year follow-up study of seven brain injured people. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 16: 354-371.
Wilson, B. A. (1995). Memory rehabilitation: Compensating for memory problems. In Dixon, R. A., and Bäckman, L. (eds.), Compensating for Psychological Deficits and Declines: Managing Losses and Promoting Gains, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 171-190.
Wilson, B. A. (1999). Case Studies in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
Wilson, B. A., Baddeley, A. D., Evans, J. J., and Shiel, A. (1994). Errorless learning in the rehabilitation of memory impaired people. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 4: 307-326.
Wilson, B. A., Baddeley, A. D. and Kapur, N. (1995). Dense amnesia in a professional musician following herpes simplex virus encephalitis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychology 17: 668-681.
Wilson, B. A., Cockburn, J., and Baddeley, A. D. (1985). The Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Thames Valley Test Company, Bury St. Edmunds.
Wilson, B. A., and Evans, J. J. (2000). Practical management of memory problems. In Berrios, G. E., and Hodges, J. R. (eds.), Memory Complaints and Disorders: The Neuropsychiatric Perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 291-310.
Wilson, B. A., Evans, J. J., Emslie, H., and Malinek, V. (1997). Evaluation of NeuroPage: A new memory aid. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 63: 113-115.
Wilson, B. A., J. C., and Hughes, E. (1997). Coping with amnesia: The natural history of a compensatory memory system. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 7: 43-56.
Wilson, B. A., and Watson, P. C. (1996). A practical framework for understanding compensatory behaviour in people with organic memory impairment. Memory 4: 465-486.
Wong, J., Holland, A., Clare, I., and Gunn, M. (in press). Maximising the decision making capacity of vulnerable adults. Psychological Medicine.
World Health Organisation (1980). International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps: A Manual of Classification Relating to the Consequences of Disease. Geneva.
Zangwill, O. L. (1947). Psychological aspects of rehabilitation in cases of brain injury. British Journal of Psychology 37: 60-69.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilson, B.A. Compensating for Cognitive Deficits Following Brain Injury. Neuropsychol Rev 10, 233–243 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026464827874
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026464827874