Gerstmann Syndrome
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(2020) 20:48
BEHAVIOR (H.S. KIRSHNER, SECTION EDITOR)
Gerstmann Syndrome Alfredo Ardila 1,2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose of Review Gerstmann (left angular gyrus) syndrome includes the tetrad of finger agnosia (inability to distinguish, name, and recognize the fingers), agraphia (acquired disturbance in the ability to write), acalculia (loss of the ability to perform arithmetical operations and use numerical concepts), and right-left disorientation (right-left discrimination defect when using language). There is some disagreement regarding its exact localization, but it most likely involves the left angular gyrus with a probable subcortical extension. This article reviews recent research on the clinical aspects of this syndrome. Recent Findings During the last years, just some few new reports of Gerstmann syndrome are found in neurological and neuropsychological literature. Most of the reports are single-case reports. An association between Gerstmann syndrome and the so-called semantic aphasia has been pointed out. Two different explanations to this unusual syndrome have been recently proposed: (1) the pathological process is located in the left parietal white matter disconnecting separate cortical networks and (2) it represents a disturbance in the ability to verbally mediate some spatial knowledge. Summary Although Gerstmann syndrome continues as a controversial syndrome, and most of the reports are single case reports, recently two different explanations have been advance the understanding of this polemic but fascinating syndrome. Keywords Gerstmann syndrome . Angular gyrus syndrome . Semantic aphasia
Introduction Joseph Gerstmann [1] proposed a clinical syndrome associated to lesions in the left hemisphere posterior parietal lobe which included four different signs: finger agnosia (inability to distinguish, name, and recognize fingers), agraphia (acquired disturbance in the ability to write), acalculia (loss of the ability to perform arithmetical operations and use numerical concepts), and right-left disorientation (right-left discrimination defect when using language). This syndrome has usually been named as “Gerstmann syndrome” and sometimes as “angular gyrus syndrome” [2]. Gerstmann [1] (1940) considered that this syndrome represents a disorder of the body schema involving the hand and the fingers. Hence, it can be This article is part of the Topical Collection on Behavior * Alfredo Ardila [email protected] 1
Institute of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
2
Psychology Doctoral Program, Albizu University, 12230 NW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33182, USA
understood as a kind of disturbance in the body scheme. Some authors have overtly opposed to it and have even considered that Gerstmann syndrome is a fiction and it is simply an artifact due to incorrect observations (e.g., [3, 4]). Gerstmann syndrome has been a controversial syndrome in neurology and neuropsychology [5
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