2023 Volume 43 Issue 3 Pages 186-189
Somatotopagnosia is a disorder in which a person is able to name body parts but has difficulty in spatially localizing them. A variety of tests were performed on a case exhibiting such disorder to self and others. As a result, his somatotopagnosia occurred not only in humans but also in animals in general. It could not be explained by the problems in body-specific language or semantic information, relating ability between whole and partial, or visual memory of body parts. There was no problem in pointing to oneʼs own body part based on the somatosensory stimulation given to himself. However, there were impairments in pointing to other's body parts based on the somatosensory stimulation given to himself and in applying semantic information to the otherʼs body. Thus, it was thought that there is a possibility that body parts cannot be recognized when the viewpoint of looking at the body from the outside is required.
