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Lack of awareness for spatial and verbal constructive apraxia
Maria Cristina Rinaldi1, Federica Piras, Luigi Pizzamiglio
1Psychology Department, Sapienza Rome University, Via dei Marsi 78, Rome, Italy.
Neuropsychologia
|February 9, 2010
Summary
Constructive apraxia (CA) affects both visuo-spatial and linguistic tasks, challenging its purely spatial origin. Unawareness of these constructive disorders is linked to right prefrontal cortex lesions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neurology
Background:
- Constructive apraxia (CA) is debated as either a distinct apraxia or a symptom of visuo-spatial processing deficits.
- Previous research linked constructive disorders to visuo-spatial impairments and difficulties with spatial relations or 3D reproduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the nature of constructive apraxia (CA) and its relationship with visuo-spatial and linguistic domains.
- To explore the association between CA, awareness of deficits, and specific brain lesions.
Main Methods:
- Screened brain-damaged patients for constructive disorders, excluding those with neglect or aphasia.
- Tested five apractic subjects on visuo-spatial tasks (e.g., design copying) and novel verbal tasks requiring constructive abilities.
- Correlated lesion locations with observed deficits and awareness levels.
Main Results:
- A constructive impairment was observed in both visuo-spatial and linguistic tasks, suggesting CA is not limited to the spatial domain.
- A consistent association was found between CA and unawareness of constructive disorders (anosognosia).
- Lack of awareness was specifically linked to lesions in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
Conclusions:
- Constructive apraxia may involve broader deficits beyond visuo-spatial processing, extending into linguistic construction.
- Anosognosia for constructive disorders is a key feature, potentially related to the right prefrontal cortex's role in action control.
- The core deficit in CA might be the inability to detect action inconsistencies rather than a spatial relationship problem.
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