Anosognosia for obvious visual field defects in stroke patients

Brain Struct Funct. 2015;220(3):1855-60. doi: 10.1007/s00429-014-0753-5. Epub 2014 Mar 21.

Abstract

Patients with anosognosia for visual field defect (AVFD) fail to recognize consciously their visual field defect. There is still unclarity whether specific neural correlates are associated with AVFD. We studied AVFD in 54 patients with acute stroke and a visual field defect. Nineteen percent of this unselected sample showed AVFD. By using modern voxelwise lesion-behaviour mapping techniques we found an association between AVFD and parts of the lingual gyrus, the cuneus as well as the posterior cingulate and corpus callosum. Damage to these regions appears to induce unawareness of visual field defects and thus may play a significant role for conscious visual perception.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Agnosia / etiology
  • Agnosia / physiopathology*
  • Consciousness*
  • Corpus Callosum / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Gyrus Cinguli / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Occipital Lobe / physiopathology
  • Stroke / complications*
  • Vision Disorders / etiology*
  • Vision Disorders / physiopathology
  • Visual Field Tests / methods
  • Visual Fields*
  • Visual Perception*