Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T03:41:04.451Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Syndrome of Visual Alexia with Colour Agnosia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

E. Stengel*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Research, Crichton Royal, Dumfries

Extract

Cases showing alexia which is not part of a general visual agnosia or of a speech disorder (letter or word blindness, cécité verbale pure) are uncommon and deserve careful study for a variety of reasons. The conception of word blindness as loss of visual memories due to a localized cerebral lesion (Hinshelwood, 1917) has been challenged by later investigators who aimed at a more general analysis of impairment of cerebral functions. The application of the principles of Gestalt psychology has introduced new aspects into the study of word blindness. Investigations into acquired word blindness, apart from their psychological and neuro-pathological interest, are of value for the understanding of congenital word blindness which has been found to be a condition of considerable practical importance. It was the investigation of cases of acquired word blindness which led Hinshelwood to the first full description of the congenital disability.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1948 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, A. (1944), Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 51, 243.Google Scholar
Bouman, L. (1928), Psychiat. Bladen (Holl.).Google Scholar
Brain, W. Russell (1941), Brain, 64, 43.Google Scholar
Brouwer, B. (1936), Handb. Neur., 6, 530.Google Scholar
Déjerine, J. (1892), Bull. Soc. Biol. Paris. Google Scholar
Goldstein, K. (1942), After-effects of Brain Injuries in War. London.—(1943) J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 78, 148.Google Scholar
Idem and Gelb, W. (1918), Zeitsch. ges. Neur. Psychiat., 41, 1.Google Scholar
Hinshelwood, J. (1917), Congenital Word-blindness. London.Google Scholar
Idem , MacPhail, A., and Ferguson, A. (1904), B.M.J., 2, 1304.Google Scholar
Kleist, K. (1934), Kriegsverletzungen des Gehirns. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Lewandowskv, W. (1908), Monatsch. Psychiat., 23, 488.Google Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W., and Guttmann, E. (1936), J. Ment. Sci., 82, 222.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. M. (1947), Agnosia, Apraxia, Aphasia. 2nd ed. New York and London.Google Scholar
Pötzl, O. (1928), Die optisch-agnostischen Störungen. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Sittig, O. (1921), Monatsch. Psychiat., 49, 63, 159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stengel, E. (1927), Deutsch. Zeitsch. Nervenh., 99, 34.Google Scholar
Wilbrand, H. (1887), Die Seelenblindheit. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Wright, W. D. (1946), Researches in Normal and Defective Colour Vision. London.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.