Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40355698›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2025

Susceptibility to multitasking in stroke is associated to multiple-demand system damage and leads to lateralized visuospatial deficits.

Elvio Blini, Daniela D'Imperio, Zaira Romeo, Michele De Filippo De Grazia, Laura Passarini, Cristina Pilosio, Francesca Meneghello, Mario Bonato, Marco Zorzi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Elvio Blini *Department of General Psychology and Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7181-5763
Daniela D'Imperio *IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3588-6924
Zaira RomeoDepartment of General Psychology and Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0144-5840
Michele De Filippo De GraziaIRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3682-8582
Laura PassariniIRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
Cristina PilosioIRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
Francesca MeneghelloIRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
Mario BonatoDepartment of General Psychology and Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2004-9341
Marco ZorziDepartment of General Psychology and Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy. marco.zorzi@unipd.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4651-6390

Funding

Ministero della Salute (Ministry of Health, Italy) RF-2013-02359306Ministero della Salute (Ministry of Health, Italy) Ricerca Corrente to IRCCS San Camillo
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cognitive impairment after stroke is heterogeneous: there is no strict correspondence between brain damage and magnitude of deficit or recovery. Protective factors such as cognitive or brain reserve have been invoked to explain the mismatch. Here, we consider the opposite point of view: the instances in which this protection is overturned. We leveraged on multitasking to stress the brain's processing limits and unveil deficits that may be missed by standard testing in a sample of 46 patients with unilateral subacute to chronic stroke and no sign of lateralized spatial-attentional disorders at neuropsychological paper-and-pencil tests. Multivariate analyses identified a phenotype of patients with high susceptibility to multitasking, showing stark contralesional spatial awareness deficit only when multitasking. Multivariate brain-behavior mapping based on lesions location and structural disconnections pointed to the Multiple-Demand System, a network of frontal and fronto-parietal areas subserving domain-general processes. Damage in this network may critically interact with domain-specific processes, resulting in subtle and yet invalidating deficits. Indeed, these patients (one-third of the sample) presented worse performance in tests evaluating activities of daily living and domain-general abilities. We conclude that the theoretical construct of susceptibility to multitasking helps understanding what marks the passage to clinically visible deficits after brain damage.

Indexed as

Cognitive DysfunctionStrokeAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeuropsychological Tests

Identifiers

PMID40355698
PMCPMC12069553

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.