The supplementary motor area syndrome and cognitive control

Abstract

The Supplementary Motor Area (SMA)-syndrome is a transient disturbance of the ability to initiate voluntary motor and speech actions that will often occur immediately after neurosurgical resections in the dorsal superior frontal gyrus but will typically have disappeared after 3 months. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent to which this syndrome is associated with alterations in cognitive control. Five patients who were to different extents affected by the SMA-syndrome after surgery for WHO grade II gliomas in the left hemisphere, were tested with the color word interference (Stroop) test; the Bergen dichotic listening test and for letter and category verbal fluency before surgery, 1-2 days after surgery and approximately 3 months after surgery. Results suggest that the motor symptoms known as the SMA syndrome co-occur with pronounced deficits in cognitive control.

Keywords: Cognitive control; Dichotic listening; Executive function; SMA-syndrome; Stroop test; Supplementary motor area.