Explicit and implicit anosognosia or upper limb motor impairment

Cocchini, Gianna; Beschin, Nicoletta; Fotopoulou, Aikaterini and Della Sala, Sergio. 2010. Explicit and implicit anosognosia or upper limb motor impairment. Neuropsychologia, 48(5), pp. 1489-1494. ISSN 0028-3932 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

If asked directly, anosognosic patients deny or seriously underestimate their motor difficulties. However explicit denial of hemiplegia does not necessarily imply a lack of insight of the deficit. In this study we explored explicit and implicit awareness for upper limb motor impairment in a group of 30 right-brain damaged patients. Explicit awareness was assessed using a questionnaire (the VATAm) in which patients are asked to rate their motor abilities, whereas implicit awareness was assessed by means of a newly developed test (BMT - bimanual task). This test requires the performance of a series of bimanual tasks that can be better performed using two hands, but could also be performed using one hand only. With the BMT, patients' performance rather than their verbal reports is evaluated and scored as an index of awareness. Paretic patients with anosognosia tend to approach these tasks as if they could use both hands. Our findings showed that explicit and implicit awareness for motor deficits can be dissociated, and they may be differently affected by feedback suggesting that different underlying mechanisms may account for the multi-factorial phenomenon of anosognosia.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.019

Keywords:

Anosognosia; Unawareness; Hemiplegia; Brain damage

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Psychology
Research Office > REF2014

Dates:

DateEvent
2010Published

Item ID:

3262

Date Deposited:

15 Jul 2010 14:29

Last Modified:

30 Jun 2017 14:13

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/3262

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