Visual Agnosia Research Paper

Agnosia describes a wide variety of phenomena associated with an inability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells when presented with that stimulus. That failure also occurs in the presence of a usually fully-functional sensory system and without any significant memory loss that could explain the recognition deficiency. Often, the disorder is caused by injury to the brain or some sort of neurological illness that damages certain pathways of the brain. This damage can be induced by strokes, head trauma, encephalitis, or conditions that involve anoxic situations. In terms of location, damage primarily occurs to the parietal, temporal, or occipital lobes of the brain, but it tends to be limited to very specific regions of the …show more content…
First, testers must notice the dysfunction – the inability to recognize a specific facet of a sensory modality. There are a few limitations to this, though: the inability must not be caused by disturbance to a sensory system, dementia, aphasia, or unfamiliarity with the stimulus that does not appear to trigger recognition. Using the table below (Table 1), Bauer (2006) lists many of the assessments that may be used to differentially rule out these conditions before proceeding to a diagnosis of agnosia. After eliminating each of these potential explanations for a recognition deficit, the second aspect of clinical assessment to address is the extent and nature to which a patient’s disturbance presents itself. This allows clinicians to best develop a plan to help the patient work with their agnosia efficiently. Following these steps, testers can best conclude where exactly the neurobiological damage lies that is causing the agnosia each patient is suffering from. This, in turn, allows neuropsychologists to proceed with available treatment