Disorders of attention, awareness and cognitive control

Each year, millions of people around the world suffer an acquired brain injury (ABI). This could be in a road accident, an armed conflict, or from a tumour or stroke. ABIs are the single biggest cause of long-term disability in countries such as the UK and have a high cost for individuals, families and economies. ABIs can have many consequences. Among the most common are problems in cognition (e.g. memory and attention) and mood. This programme is focused on better understanding these difficulties, how they interact, and what they can tell about normal function. It also aims, through this improved understanding, to develop better clinical assessments and practical rehabilitation treatments. Examples include; a) investigating how we move from one activity to another and whether impairments in the necessary processes help us to understand some of the problems faced by people with ABI; b) looking at the relationships between problems in planning and overall activity levels and whether tackling both can improve mood; and c) whether we can develop improved assessments for common post-ABI impairments in spatial awareness and use these to test new treatments.