Agnosia

agnosia, loss or diminution of the ability to recognize objects, sounds, smells, tastes, or other sensory stimuli. Agnosia is sometimes described as perception without meaning. It is often caused by trauma to or degeneration of the parts of the brain involved in the integration of experience, perception, and memory. Examples of specific causes include stroke and carbon monoxide poisoning. In general, only a single sense (e.g., vision, hearing, or touch) is affected, and the organs of the sensory modalities themselves are intact.

There are three major categories of agnosic disorders: visual, auditory, and somatosensory. Visual agnosias are often described as being either associative or apperceptive. Associative visual agnosias are characterized by the inability to ascribe meaning to the objects one sees. Affected individuals cannot distinguish between objects that are real and those that are not. For example, when presented with drawings of a real animal, such as a dog, and an unreal animal, such as a dog-headed horse, the individual cannot recognize the real creature and is not able to categorize either creature as real or unreal. Persons with prosopagnosia, a type of associative agnosia, are unable to recognize faces. Apperceptive visual agnosias, also known as visual space agnosias, are characterized by the inability to perceive the structure or shape of an object. Persons with apperceptive agnosias have difficulty matching objects of similar form. In most cases of associative or apperceptive visual agnosia, visual acuity is unaffected; thus, those persons can detect colour and brightness and can resolve details. Associative and apperceptive agnosias sometimes occur in conjunction with impairments in memory or learning and are often associated with damage to the occipital and temporal lobes of the brain. Some persons are diagnosed with integrative agnosia, a form of visual agnosia in which symptoms of both associative and apperceptive disorders are present.

Auditory agnosias range from the inability to comprehend spoken words (verbal auditory agnosia) to the inability to recognize nonlinguistic sounds and noises (nonverbal auditory agnosia) or music (amusia). In young children, acquired verbal auditory agnosia, which is a symptom of Landau-Kleffner syndrome, may lead to mutism, or loss of the ability or will to speak. The sensory organ of hearing is intact, and pure tones can be perceived. Individuals with amusia are unable to recognize that certain groups of sounds represent music and therefore cannot distinguish music from other sounds. Those individuals also cannot produce musical sound through singing, humming, or whistling.

Tactile agnosia is characterized by the lack of ability to recognize objects through touch. The weight and texture of an object may be perceived, but the person can neither describe it by name nor comprehend its significance or meaning. Tactile agnosia is caused by lesions in the brain’s parietal lobe.

Agnosia is diagnosed through physical examination, neuropsychological testing, and brain imaging. Examples of neuropsychological tests include visual distinction between real and unreal objects, facial recognition, verbal and nonverbal sound recognition, odour recognition, and tactile form recognition. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanning may be used to identify brain lesions to aid diagnosis.

Few agnosic patients regain sensory function, and most gains in recovery occur within the first few months or year of diagnosis. Speech therapy and occupational therapy can help agnosic individuals cope with their conditions.