Imitation and utilisation behaviour.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the incidence, anatomical correlates, and clinical features of imitation and utilisation behaviour, which are thought by Lhermitte and coworkers to represent a reliable and frequent index of frontal lobe disease.


METHODS
78 patients with hemispheric local lesions were tested in two separate sessions, in which their reactions to a series of gestures performed by the examiner and to the presentation of a set of objects were recorded. The patients were stratified into a frontal (n = 52) and a non-frontal group (n = 26) on the basis of their CT data.


CONCLUSIONS
Imitation behaviour was present in 39% of the frontal patients and was mainly associated with medial and lateral lesions, at odds with the claim of Lhermitte et al that it is a constant accompaniment of lower, mediobasal lesions. In the non-frontal group it was found in three patients, all with damage to the deep nuclei region. Utilisation behaviour was a much rarer phenomenon, present in only two patients, both of whom had frontal damage. Neither imitation behaviour nor utilisation behaviour were found in patients with retrorolandic cortical lesions.
Neurology Department, University of Modena, Italy.
E
E
De Renzi
F
F
Cavalleri
S
S
Facchini
D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed