A category-specific deficit of spatial representation: the case of autotopagnosia.
Following a vascular lesion in the parietal cortex of the language dominant hemisphere (right in one case), two patients showed a striking dissociation between spared naming, recognition and use of their body parts and an inability in localising on verbal command the same body parts on themselves and on a mannequin (Autotopagnosia, AT). The patients were submitted to a modified version of Reed and Farah Test (1995), a test that taps the ability to encode changes of body position as opposed to changes of position of objects. Their performance differed from normal controls, showing a specific deficit in encoding body position. It is suggested that AT could be the consequence of a lesion in a specific neural circuit, located in the language dominant hemisphere, whose function is to encode the body position for both oneself and others.
Denes
G
G
Department of Neurology, Venice Hospital, Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo, 30122, Venezia, Italy. denes@unive.it
Cappelletti
J Y
JY
Zilli
T
T
Dalla Porta
F
F
Gallana
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001072:Apraxias / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008606:Mental Processes; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology