Pure topographical disorientation: a definition and anatomical basis.
Four patients showing the syndrome of "topographical disorientation" are reported. Patients became unable to find their way, especially in unfamiliar surroundings, following a single lesion in the territory of the right posterior cerebral artery, as evidenced on CT-scan. Associated disturbances included: left hemianopia, mild face recognition problems, and various degree of impairment in face-learning and visual maze-learning tasks. Language, visuo-perceptive and constructional abilities, object and picture recognition were intact. Memory tests only showed a mild, generally non-significant, impairment of visual memory. As inferred from the lesion located in the 4 patients, this syndrome seems to be strongly related to damage to the right parahippocampal gyrus, a structure that thus appears crucial for specifically storing and/or retrieving visual information necessary to achieve orientation in the locomotor environment.
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D012931:Social Environment; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed