Cross-Modal Performance in Patients with Cerebral Lesions

52 patients with circumscribed cerebral lesions, and 35 control patients (lesions in the posterior fossa or in the spinal cord), were assessed for their ability to match spatial configurations: matching was either cross-modal (visual-tactual or tactual visual), or within-modal (visual-visual or tactual-tactual). They were also tested for cross-modal transfer (visual-tactual or tactual-visual). All materials were “easy” or “hard”. Associated defects (e.g. dysphasia, apraxia) were also assessed. It was found that neither site of lesion, nor laterality of lesion, nor presence of any associated defect was significantly and selectively associated with impairment of cross-modal performance.