A ground-breaking research project is being launched to examine what effects severe brain injuries can have on personalities.

The study, being commissioned by Rehab Scotland, will build up a picture of the victim's character before the injury so that rehabilitation programmes can be effectively measured.

Despite advances in modern medicine, brain injuries remain notoriously difficult to treat.

'No real measure'

Although a huge part of a patient's recovery depends on the success of any operation, the long-term rehabilitation process is just as important.

But those who work with victims of head trauma, like the Rehab charity, say they have no real way of measuring how well a person has recovered as they never knew what the patient's personality was like before the injury.

Psychologists at the universities of Strathclyde and Aberdeen will now work with relatives and carers of brain injury victims to build up profiles of patients' characters.

They will use their findings to measure how successful their rehabilitation programmes have been and what possible changes they should make in the future.