The stability of compromised interhemispheric processing in callosal dysgenesis and partial commissurotomy

The persistence and stability of selective deficits in interhemispheric processing resulting from known callosal pathology have been monitored over periods ranging from ten to thirty five years. The present study included five patients: two with complete agenesis of the corpus callosum, one with partial dysgenesis, and two with a partial section of the corpus callosum. A crossed-uncrossed difference task and four bilateral visual matching tasks were administered to these patients and to groups of normal individuals matched on age and intelligence. As expected, all of the patients showed deficits in speed or accuracy relative to the performance of their control groups. The profile of performance for each patient across the five tasks demonstrated a systematic (but not perfectly consistent) relationship with the location and extent of callosal pathology.