Visual Agnosia and Alternating Dominance; Analysis of a Case

Abstract

The case here described is of interest in that it concerns a young man of good intelligence who presented a disorder limited to visual-gnostic functions; this is noteworthy as the majority of the cases described are elderly patients and there are usually other than visual gnostic functions involved. The case has special circumstances of additional significance. The patient had lost the sight of his right eye in infancy and he was a definite right-handed man; the damage involved the right hemisphere; this exceptional coincidence raises interesting problems of hemispheric dominance.

Prosopagnosia

“…Klein and Stack (1953) reported on a patient, who, after a vascular lesion, developed prosopagnosia with inability to interpret pictures, disturbance in topographical memory, inability to identify colours, and also had a left upper quadrantic field defect.…”

Personalization of Restorative and Compensatory Treatments for People With Aphasia

“…The potential specialization of the right hemisphere in processing familiar information is not a new concept. Rather, it was noted decades ago in the literature surrounding prosopagnosia (Klein & Stack, 1953), a disorder characterized by an inability to recognize familiar faces (Meadows, 1974). In more recent years, increased evidence has accumulated regarding the right hemisphere's role in processing familiar targets.…”