VISUAL AGNOSIA WITHOUT RIGHT HEMIANOPIA IN A RIGHT-HANDED PATIENT

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 136  (11) , 727-740
Abstract
A right-handed 77 yr old man was presented with a left homonymous lateral hemianopsia involving the macula. Consciousness, memory and speech were normal but the patient experienced great difficulties in identifying objects and images by sight, even though he recognized their geometrical shapes. He also had prosopagnosia, and alexia without agraphia but no agnosia for colors. The patient died suddenly 6 wk after the onset of disorders. Pathological examination demonstrated the presence of a bilateral occipital infarct involving the inferior border of the calcarine fissure, and the lingual and fusiform gyri on the right, and the fusiform gyrus on the left. This supports the role of the inferior occipitotemporal convolutions in the perceptual integration of visual informations in humans, and suggests that this region of the cortex is analagous with the inferotemporal cortex of monkeys which is a determinant for the elaboration of visual objects.