Signs & Symptoms of Brain Trauma

When any trauma occurs to the brain, brain function can be disrupted. The types of mental disruption can vary from problems with attention and memory, to affecting a person's ability to carry out regular tasks and making decisions. The different signs and symptoms of brain trauma depend on the region of the brain that is injured in the impact: either the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the occipital lobe, the temporal lobe, the cerebellum or the brain stem.

Frontal Lobe

• The frontal lobe is the part of the brain toward the forehead, and is highly susceptible to traumatic brain injury. Symptoms of frontal lobe injury include issues with movement, such as paralysis and sequencing, where the patient cannot complete a task that involves multiple movements. Personality, mood and social behavior are also affected, and brain trauma patients experience less spontaneity in social interaction. In addition, attention and problem solving may become more difficult, and patients could exhibit issues with spoken language, called Broca's aphasia.

Parietal Lobe

• Injuries to the parietal lobe, which is located behind the frontal lobe, interferes with reading and writing; examples include not being able to name an object (anomia), unable to recall words for writing (agraphia), and issues with reading (alexia). In addition, parietal lobe trauma can also result in hand and eye coordination difficulties, problems with visual attention focus, and issues with discerning left from right.

Occipital Lobe

• The most posterior lobe in the brain, the occipital lobe, is the center for visual processing. When a traumatic injury impacts that region of the brain, patients will exhibit issues in their visual fields, locating items, recognizing drawn objects and words, and recognizing an item's movement. Symptoms also involve hallucinations and inaccurately seeing things.

Temporal Lobe

• Located along the side of the head just above the ears, the temporal lobe is essential in memory. When injured, symptoms include short-term memory loss and long-term memory interference, as well as selective attention disturbance. Temporal lobe lesions also affect behavior, increasing aggressive behavior, and increasing or decreasing sexual behavior. Other signs of temporal lobe trauma are difficulties recognizing faces (prosopagnosia), understanding spoken words (Wernicke's aphasia), and identifying and verbalizing about an item.

Cerebellum

• At the base of the skull, the cerebellum is responsible for movement. Symptoms for cerebellum injury are the inability to walk, coordinate intricate or fast movements, reach out and grab objects. Tremors, slurred speech, dizziness or vertigo are also signs that there might be trauma.

Brain Stem

• Trauma to the brain stem can result in dangerous symptoms, such as the decreased capacity in breathing, thus impairing speech. Other signs include problems with swallowing food and water (dysphagia), perception, balancing and moving. Sleep problems, like insomnia and sleep apnea, can also indicate trauma to the brain stem.