AGNOSIA WITHOUT PROSOPAGNOSIA OR ALEXIA: EVIDENCE FOR STORED VISUAL MEMORIES SPECIFIC TO OBJECTS

Abstract

A single-case study is presented of a patient w ith a modality-specific problem in visual object recognition, w hich can be linked to impaired stored descriptions for objects. Performance was poor on tasks requiring naming, semantic decisions, and object decisions to seen objects. Performance on semantic decisions w ith w ords, however, was relatively good, demonstrating that the problem was not due solely to a general semantic impairment. Moreover, in contrast to the impairments in visual object recognition, both face recognition and on-line visual word recognition w ere within normal limits. The data indicate that im pairments of object recognition can be distinguished from impairments of face and visual w ord recognition, even when the problem can be localised within the structural description system for objects. We discuss the im plications of the results for understanding the relations between object, face, and word identification.