Disorders of visuospatial processing

Abstract

Disorders of visuospatial function are common but poorly understood. In this article we review the clinical symptoms, assessment, and processing impairments underlying a number of clinical disorders in which visuospatial processing is the primary manifestation. We start with a consideration of the neglect syndrome, a disorder in which subjects exhibit deficits in attending to or representing information from the contralesional side of space. We also discuss the syndrome of simultanagnosia, a disorder characterized by an inability to see more than one object at a time. Although often unrecognized, misreaching to visualized targets, or optic ataxia, is not uncommon; we review the manner in which this potentially disabling disorder can be identified. Finally, we review the disorders of visuospatial processing that are associated with degenerative diseases of the brain. These disorders may be the initial and, for a number of years, the only manifestation of Alzheimer disease and other disorders. Copyright © 2010, American Academy of Neurology.