Autism and visual agnosia in a child with right occipital lobectomy

Abstract

Objectives-Autistic disorder is a developmental handicap with an unknown neurological basis. Current neuropsychological models for autism suggest an abnormal construction of visual perceptual representation or a deficit in executive functions. These models predict cerebral lesions in the temporo-occipital or frontal regions of autistic patients. The present study aimed at studying the presence of symptoms of autism and visual agnosia in a 13 year old girl who had a right temporo-occipital cortical dysplasia that was surgically removed at the age of 7. Conclusions-Although the possibilty that autism and visual agnosia were dissociable factors in this patient cannot be excluded, the finding of both deficits supports the possibility that occipitotemporal lesions can predispose to the development of autism. (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1998;65:555-560) Methods-Neuropsychological

Investigations of face expertise in the social developmental disorders

“…The potential relevance of visual perception and in particular face processing skills to social behavior is suggested by reports of SDD-like features in patients with childhood-onset prosopagnosia, 2-5 visual loss, [6][7][8][9][10][11] and apperceptive visual agnosia. 12,13 On the other hand, others argue that, even without a primary perceptual deficit, the presence of an SDD may impair the acquisition of normal face expertise during childhood. [14][15][16][17] Since the ability to discriminate subtle differences between faces develops during childhood and requires exposure and interest, 18 the development of this perceptual skill may be hampered by a social apathy that may extend to the avoidance of looking at faces.…”

Brief Report: Assessment of Sensory Abnormalities in People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

“…Earlier work by Metz (1967) reported that children with ASD showed preference for much higher levels of sound than children with a learning disability. Frankel, Freeman, Ritvo, Chikamin, and Carr (1976) found that for children with ASD, specific frequencies of flickering light had reinforcement value but did not for non-ASD children, whilst specific visual agnosias have also been associated with people with ASD (Jambaque, Mottron, Ponsot, & Chiron, 1998). Overall, abnormalities have been described in all main five sensory modalities as well as kinaesthetic and proprioceptive sensation.…”

Vision After Early-Onset Lesions of the Occipital Cortex:II. Physiological Studies

“…Reorganization of the cortico-cortical connections after early lesions has been demonstrated in cats (Caminiti & Innocenti, 1981;MacNeil et al, 1997), and was suggested as the likely mechanism underlying the cortical plasticity seen by Baseler et ai. (1999 (Warrington & James, 1988;Kartsounis & Warrington, 1991;De Renzi & Lucchinelli, 1993;Jambaqu6 et al, 1998), suggesting that the occipital region of the right hemisphere is specialized for figure integration and figure-ground discrimination. Although severe agnosia has also been reported in one case of bilateral occipital lesion, more severe on the left (Shelton et al, 1994), the more severe lesion of the right occipital lobe in FJ could explain his inferior functional recovery.…”