Autotopagnosia

Neurology, Psychiatry

Also known as: Body Schema Agnosia

Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.

Summary

Autotopagnosia is a neurological disorder of orientation regarding one's own body or its parts, arising from lesions in the parietal gyrus of the brain. It represents a specific case of agnosia involving the loss of the "body schema." The 1930s encyclopedia also notes its relation to the phantom limb symptom in amputees.

Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)

AUTOTOPAGNOSIA (from Greek autos - self, own, topos - place, negative particle a-, and gnosis - knowledge), a disorder of orientation regarding one's own body or its parts. Autotopagnosia represents a special case of agnosia (see), the basis of which lies in the loss of knowledge of the "schema of one's own body." It is encountered in diseases of the parietal gyrus of the brain. Close to autotopagnosia is the "phantom symptom" in patients with amputated limbs: these patients continue to "feel" their missing limb and even its "movements."

Mentioned in

Cite this page

“Autotopagnosia.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/autotopagnosia/