appendix 1 Outline Diagrams of the Brain
appendix 2 Glasgow Outcome Scale
appendix 3 Glasgow Coma Scale
appendix 4 Post Traumatic Amnesia

TEMPORAL LOBES
The parts of the side of the brain which are located adjacent to the temples. Damage to the temporal lobes can lead to cognitive, behavioural and physical disorders. The cognitive disorder is memory; the behavioural disorder ranges widely, including changes in anger and sexuality; the physical disorder is epilepsy. The memory disorder is likely to be "lateralized"; a left temporal disorder leading to disturbed verbal memory but preserved non-verbal memory. The opposite pattern is found with right temporal damage (with some exceptions).

VENTRICLES (Cerebral ventricles)
A series of fluid-filled spaces inside the brain. The fluid they contain is CEREBRO-SPINAL FLUID (qv). They can be seen on brain images. Enlargements of the ventricles can indicate increased pressure inside the brain or the loss of brain cells.

VISUAL DISTURBANCES
Patients with damage to the "visual system" may have characteristic disturbances in which they have holes ("scotoma") or gaps in their VISUAL FIELD (qv). These are due to damage to the fibres or cells involved in the transmission or interpretation of visual information.

VISUAL FIELDS
The range within which we can see without moving our eyes. Restriction in this range follows damage to the visual system of the brain. (See also HEMIANOPIA.)

WECHSLER
David Wechsler (1896-1981), a Roumanian-born psychologist, was for many years chief psychologist at the Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in New York and developed the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, which became the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), as well as various other scales. His first measures were introduced in 1939, and the Psychological Corporation continues to develop and build on his work. These are generally considered the best psychological measures in terms of reliability and validity and the most recent versions, including WAIS-III, have very extensive normative data available including UK data collected by teams of collaborators.

WERNICKE'S AREA
The part of the brain (see Appendix 1) which decodes incoming language. Where it is damaged there will be receptive DYSPHASIA (qv) in which words sound unintelligible, as if in a strange foreign language.

WRITING
Disorders of writing ("Dysgraphia") sometimes follow head injury. Except in the very early stages they are not common.

X-RAY
See "Radiography/Radiology"