Brain Behaviour and Cognition: From Lesion to Rehabilitation

Cognition includes all the cognitive processes that are involved in learning, remembering, and using knowledge. Cognitive alterations are common after acquired brain injury (ABI) and may decrease the ability of a person to adequately process and understand information, causing abnormal behaviours, mood disorders, and dysfunctional adaptive strategies. Frequently, these disabilities may determine some invaliding limitations, affecting daily functional capacity, working activities, and general process of socialisation. Cognitive rehabilitation (CR) is aimed to support brain-injured or otherwise cognitively impaired persons to restore regular functioning, or to compensate for cognitive deficits. Over the last years, the development of new technologies in the field of CR has led to a growing use of computer-assisted approach, virtual reality system, telerehabilitation treatment, alone or combined with neuromodulation techniques in patients with ABI. The study of the connections between the brain and behaviour is a part of clinical neurorehabilitation. According to a bio-psycho-social paradigm, these links can be applied specifically to the diagnosis and prognosis of brain illnesses, evaluation of cognitive, emotional, and behavioural functioning, and the design and implementation of successful treatment. The focus of this chapter is on the cognitive and behavioural consequences of ABI and their possibilities of treatments according to conventional neurorehabilitation or the use of the main innovative technologies. After a short introduction on the main anatomo-clinical aspects of brain’s functioning, the aetiology of the most common forms of ABI and their related cognitive and behavioural problems are reported. Next, psychometric assessment and the different rehabilitative methods are discussed. The chapter is completed with future research directions and clinical implications.