Topographical disorientation in a patient with right parahippocampal infarction

Abstract

We here describe a patient showing topographical disorientation (TD) after infarction of the right medial occipital lobe; the lesion included the parahippocampal gyrus. Clinical and neuropsychological observations demonstrated a specific pattern of impairment in terms of visual and visuospatial (topographical) learning, and memory. He had no landmark agnosia. His defective route finding resulted from impaired allocentric and egocentric spatial representations. Drawing illustrations of both familial and unfamiliar place and orientation tasks in an egocentric coordination context is a useful means of recognizing the influence of egocentric and/or allocentric spatial disturbance. The definition of "allocentric" or "egocentric" is confusing, and requires a standard for differentiating TD types.

Keywords: Allocentric; Egocentric; Parahippocampal gyrus; Spatial memory; Topographic disorientation.