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Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Assessment and Rehabilitation of Cognitive Function in Neurological Disorders
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Assessment and Rehabilitation of Cognitive Function in Neurological Disorders

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurorehabilitation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 January 2026 | Viewed by 1440

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Gilles Naeije

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Neurology Department, HUB-Hôpital Erasme, Brussels, Belgium
Interests: functional connectivity; stroke; cerebellar ataxia

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) affects nearly half of stroke survivors, yet the mechanisms that drive it remain elusive. Beyond direct cortical injury, diaschisis—remote functional depression following focal damage—may play a pivotal role. Recent studies have highlighted the contribution of thalamic, hippocampal, and cerebellar diaschisis to PSCI, particularly after anterior circulation stroke, where these regions are structurally intact but disconnected from cortical networks.

Insights from cerebellar ataxias underscore the cognitive role of cerebellar posterior lobes, which co-evolved with the prefrontal cortex and maintain dense anatomical and functional connectivity to executive networks. Lesions involving cerebellar posterior lobes are associated with cognitive impairment and prefrontal diaschisis, while neuromodulation studies begin to target these circuits therapeutically.

We especially welcome translational work bridging diaschisis models with clinical rehabilitation, and studies applying frameworks from neurodegenerative or developmental disorders to cerebrovascular disease.

Dr. Gilles Naeije
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • post-stroke cognitive impairment
  • diaschisis
  • cerebellum
  • cortico-cerebellar connectivity
  • neuromodulation
  • transcranial cerebellar stimulation
  • cognitive rehabilitation
  • functional connectivity

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 482 KB  
Article
Targeting Cognition and Behavior Post-Stroke: Combined Emotional Music Stimulation and Virtual Attention Training in a Quasi-Randomized Study
by Rosaria De Luca, Federica Impellizzeri, Francesco Corallo, Andrea Calderone, Rosalia Calapai, Alessio Mirabile, Lilla Bonanno, Maria Grazia Maggio, Angelo Quartarone, Irene Ciancarelli and Rocco Salvatore Calabrò
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(11), 1168; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15111168 - 29 Oct 2025
Viewed by 332
Abstract
Background: Emotionally salient music may enhance attention-focused rehabilitation, yet concurrent music plus virtual-reality programs in chronic stroke are largely untested. We assessed whether personalized emotional music stimulation (EMS) layered onto a standardized virtual reality rehabilitation system (VRRS) augments cognitive, affective, physiological, and [...] Read more.
Background: Emotionally salient music may enhance attention-focused rehabilitation, yet concurrent music plus virtual-reality programs in chronic stroke are largely untested. We assessed whether personalized emotional music stimulation (EMS) layered onto a standardized virtual reality rehabilitation system (VRRS) augments cognitive, affective, physiological, and functional outcomes. Methods: In a quasi-randomized outpatient trial, 20 adults ≥ 6 months post-ischemic stroke were allocated by order of recruitment to VRRS alone (control, n = 10) or VRRS+EMS (experimental, n = 10). Both groups performed 45 min of active VRRS cognitive training (3×/week, 8 weeks), while the EMS group received approximately 60 min sessions including setup and feedback phases. Primary outcomes were cognition and global function; secondary outcomes were intrinsic motivation, depression, anxiety, and heart rate. Non-parametric tests with effect sizes and Δ-scores were used. Results: The experimental group improved across all domains: cognition (median +4.5 points), motivation (median +54 points), depression (median −3.5 points), anxiety (median −4.0 points), heart rate (median −6.35 beats per minute), and disability (median one-grade improvement), each with large effects. The control group showed smaller gains in cognition and motivation and a modest heart-rate reduction, without significant changes in mood or disability. At post-treatment, the music group outperformed controls on cognition, motivation, and disability. Change-score analyses favored the music group for every endpoint. Larger heart-rate reductions correlated with greater improvements in depression (ρ = 0.73, p < 0.001) and anxiety (ρ = 0.58, p = 0.007). Conclusions: Adding personalized emotional music to virtual-reality attention training produced coherent, clinically relevant gains in cognition, mood, motivation, autonomic regulation, and independence compared with virtual reality alone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment and Rehabilitation of Cognitive Function in Neurological Disorders)
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8 pages, 351 KB  
Brief Report
Screening for Post-Stroke Cognitive Impairment in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Good IDEA?
by Fode Abass Cissé, Yannick Fogoum Fogang, Male Dore and Gilles Naeije
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(6), 543; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15060543 - 22 May 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 891
Abstract
Background: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) remains under-recognized in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in part due to the lack of validated cognitive screening tools adapted to low-literacy populations. We aimed to validate the Identification of Dementia in Elderly Africans (IDEA) cognitive screen in SSA and [...] Read more.
Background: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) remains under-recognized in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in part due to the lack of validated cognitive screening tools adapted to low-literacy populations. We aimed to validate the Identification of Dementia in Elderly Africans (IDEA) cognitive screen in SSA and assess its utility for detecting PSCI in Guinea and Cameroon. Methods: Normative IDEA scores were derived from a control cohort of healthy older adults in Conakry (Guinea) and Bafoussam (Cameroon). The tool was then applied to consecutive stroke patients from the same hospitals within one month of stroke onset. Demographic, clinical, and vascular risk profiles were collected. Between-group comparisons were performed using Welch’s t-tests and chi-square tests. Results: Among 91 healthy controls (median age: 64), the mean IDEA score was 12 ± 2.4. A cut-off of ≤7 (2 standard deviations below the mean) was defined for cognitive impairment. Among 111 stroke patients (median age: 65; mean NIHSS: 9.9 ± 5.8), the mean IDEA score was 9.6 ± 3.2, and 31 patients (28%) had scores ≤ 7. Stroke patients had significantly higher rates of hypertension and diabetes compared to controls. Conclusions: The IDEA screen appears to be a feasible and effective tool for detecting PSCI in SSA clinical settings. The 28% prevalence of cognitive impairment aligns with data from high-income countries, supporting the broader use of the IDEA to strengthen cognitive care pathways in SSA stroke populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessment and Rehabilitation of Cognitive Function in Neurological Disorders)
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