Visual Agnosia Associated with Injury of the Left or Right Medial Occipitotemporal Region (Prosopagnosia, Topographagnosia, Alexia)

A lesion in the left or right medial occipitotemporal region can result in a specific pattern of visual agnosia.

Arterial supply: posterior cerebral artery

Agnosia:

(1) prosopagnosia: inability to recognize familiar faces

(2) topographagnosia: inability to understand spatial relationships (unable to read a map or find one's way around)

(3) alexia: inability to read

Capacity	Left Side Injury	Right Side Injury
recognize familiar faces	able	unable (prospoagnosia)
interpret spatial relationships	able	unable (topographagnosia)
interpret nonverbal facial expressions	able	unable
lipreading	unable	able
reading	unable (alexia)	able

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