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4 - Disorders of previously well-established memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

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Summary

There is a rare disorder that is apparently caused by certain lesions of the parietal neocortex of the left hemisphere, in which patients are unable to point on verbal command, to parts of their own bodies as well as to body parts of their examiner or of a picture of the human body. This disorder, known as autotopagnosia, is often accompanied by other cognitive deficits, such as a general difficulty in naming things, known as an anomia, or a difficulty understanding any words that refer to concrete as opposed to abstract concepts. If autotopagnosia is accompanied by these kinds of problem, then it is possible to argue that it is caused by a general difficulty with word names or an inability to understand the meaning of concrete words. There are cases, however, in which patients can name body parts on their own bodies when these parts are pointed to by the examiner, although they cannot point to their own body parts on command or point to their own body part that corresponds to a numbered part on a picture of a body. These autotopagnosias cannot be caused by verbal deficits, but some patients with this pattern of disorder also have difficulty pointing, on verbal command, to parts of inanimate objects. As such patients are also unable to relate a well-known story in logical sequence, it has been argued that autotopagnosia is caused by a general inability to analyse a whole into its component parts.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

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