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.
De Renzi
E
E
Neurology Department, University of Modena, Italy.
Cavalleri
F
F
Facchini
S
S
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