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Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology pp 1–2Cite as

Agnosia, Object

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Synonyms

Visual agnosia; Visual form agnosia

Definition

A visual agnosia is the loss of ability to visually recognize formerly familiar objects, while there is no defect in vision nor is there any significant memory loss to account for the symptom. Two subtypes include apperceptive visual agnosia and associative visual agnosia. Patients with apperceptive visual agnosia display the ability to see contours and outlines when shown an object, but they experience difficulty if asked to categorize objects. Patients with associative visual agnosia experience difficulty when asked to name objects.

Etiology

Apperceptive visual agnosia is associated with damage to one hemisphere, specifically the posterior sections of the right hemisphere. Associative agnosia is associated with damage to both the right and left hemispheres at the occipitotemporal border.

Clinical Presentation

Patients with apperceptive visual agnosia are unable to distinguish visual shapes and have trouble recognizing visual...

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Further Reading

  • Cambier J, Signoret JL, Bolgert F (1989) Visual object agnosia: current conceptions. Rev Neurol (Paris) 145(8–9):640–645

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  • Coslett HB (2011) Sensory agnosias. In: Gottfried JA (ed) Neurobiology of sensation and reward. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Chapter 10

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Blanton Eye Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital, 6560 Fannin Street, Scurlock 450, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Sumayya J. Almarzouqi, Michael L. Morgan & Andrew G. Lee

  2. Departments of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX, USA

    Andrew G. Lee

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Andrew G. Lee

  4. Department of Ophthalmology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist hospital, Houston, TX, USA

    Eileen Choudhury & Andrew G. Lee

  5. Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Andrew G. Lee

Authors
  1. Eileen Choudhury
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  2. Sumayya J. Almarzouqi
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  3. Michael L. Morgan
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  4. Andrew G. Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew G. Lee .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Medical University of Wien Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Wien, Austria

    Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main Department of Ophthalmology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Kohnen

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (outside the USA)

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Choudhury, E., Almarzouqi, S.J., Morgan, M.L., Lee, A.G. (2015). Agnosia, Object. In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_1149-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_1149-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35951-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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