Brain-Behavior Relationships

VI. Inferior Parietal Lobule

A. Dysfunctions caused by lesions

1. Apraxia for dressing (9, 10, 11, 12, 19).
2. Constructional apraxia (spatial apraxagnosia) - problems in motor integration in constructional tasks (3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 14).
3. Spatial orientation deficit (9, 11) (more severe for right hemisphere lesions than left: 10, 13).
4. Right-left disorientation (3, 7, 10, 11, 12).
5. Planto-pokinesia (disorganization of discriminations in spatial Judgment) (7, 9, 14).
6. Visuospatial agnosia (7, 16, 17).
7. Difficulty in performing reversible operations in extrapersonal space (difficulty in taking different perspectives) (more severe for right hemisphere lesions than left) (2, 3, 13).
8. Inability to maintain visual image of patterned and verbal material (4, 17).
9. Visuographic defects (5, 6).
10. Unilateral neglect (6, 9, 10, 11, 12).
11. General intellectual impairment (lesions in left hemisphere) (10).
12. Problems with writing and defective comprehension in reading (6).

B. Assessment

1. Inability to analyze positions of hands on a clock (7).
2. Confuses symmetrically arranged symbols (e.g., d & b) (7).
3. Difficulty making rotations on a 2-D stick test (1, 3).
4. Difficulty changing perspectives on a village scene test (2, 3, 4).
5. Difficulty with transformations on pool reflections test (2, 3, 4).
6. Problems on both visual and tactile route finding tests (7, 12, 13, 19).
7. Difficulty in maze learning (15).
8. Inability to follow habitual routes (9, 11, 12).
9. Difficulty designating body parts on examiner(3).
10. Difficulty drawing common objects to demand (1, 3).
11. Problems in visual memory for patterns and verbal matter (4, 17).
12. Errors on the Bender (1, 5, 6).
13. Poor performance on Unknown Faces Test (16)
14. Difficulty with simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, both presented orally and written (3).
15. WAIS arithmetic subtest scores lowered (8).
16. Low test scores on Army General Classification Test (18).

References