PSYC 321 Chapter Notes - Chapter 21: Infor, Astereognosis, Saccade
5 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Alien hand represents a psychomotor disorder where the actions of one hand appear to act independently of the patient"s will. Most of the time the patient is aware the hand is theirs in the sense but have no control over it. Both her hands were playing tug of war when mp tried drying off. Other times her left hand caused mayhem. Described having alien hand as having 2 naughty children inside her head who are always arguing. First deficit suspected was astereognosis = inability to identify items by touch. Shows mp"s left sided astereognosis, apraxia, and agraphia. Acute form callosal damage and substitutes fairly rapidly. Chronic form damage to both anterior corpus callosum and mesial frontal cortex. Neuroanatomical evidence indicates mesio-frontal damage to the contralateral hemisphere is required for chronic alien hand. Chronic alien hand depends on mesio-frontal structures. Mp appears to accept it as a major nuisance.
