Motor awareness and motor intention in anosognosia for hemiplegia

old_uid4885
titleMotor awareness and motor intention in anosognosia for hemiplegia
start_date2008/05/22
schedule16h
onlineno
location_infosalle de conférences
detailsInvité par Alessandro Farnè, U 864
summaryIn the everyday life, a successful monitoring of behaviour requires a continuous updating of the effect of motor acts. It is, therefore, crucial to know whether a programmed action has been actually performed. Some patients who, as consequence of a right brain damage develop a paresis of the left side of the body, obstinately deny their motor deficit (motor denial or anosognosia), and when asked to move their paralysed limb they pretend of having performed the action required by the examiner. Anosognosia has both, clinical and theoretical implications. From a clinical point of view anosognosia for hemiplegia can have a negative impact on motor rehabilitation. From a theoretical point of view ansognosia can shed light on the neural structure that underlie conscious motor processes. I shall briefly review the clinical characteristics of anosognosia for hemiplegia, the false believes reported by the patients, the associations and dissociation with other neurolopsychological symptoms and the anatomical correlation of the disorder. On the bases of anatomoclinical data it will be argued that ansognosia is due to the failure of a motor monitoring component that does not detect the mismatch between a desired action and the actual status of the sensory-motor system in face of an intact capacity of programming movements and forming sensory-motor predictions. This would imply that the brain activity leading to the construction of a conscious intention of action is normal. I shall present observational, EMG and behavioural data that strongly suggest that motor intentional processes are still available in hemiplegic anosognosic patient.
responsiblesBéranger