Developmental topographical disorientation in a healthy subject

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 1563 - 1573
• Main Authors: Bianchini, F., Incoccia, C., Palermo, L., Piccardi, L., Zompanti, L., Sabatini, U., Peran, Patrice, Guariglia, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Cognitive Processes; Confusion - pathology; Confusion - physiopathology; Development of navigational skills; Environmental navigation; Evaluation; Humans; Imagination; Intelligence; Life Sciences; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medical sciences; Memory - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Orientation - physiology; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Selective developmental disorders; Spatial Behavior - physiology; Spatial memory; Spatial orientation; Topographical disorientation; Topography; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult; Spatial orientation; Selective developmental disorders; Environmental navigation; Topographical disorientation; Development of navigational skills; Spatial memory; Human; Navigation; Healthy subject; Spatial disorientation; Cognition; Developmental disorder; Case study; Skill; Development
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.025

We present the case of F.G., a healthy, normally developed 22-year-old male subject affected by a pervasive disorder in environmental orientation and navigation who presents no history of neurological or psychiatric disease. A neuro-radiological examination showed no evidence of anatomical or structural alterations to the brain. We submitted the subject for a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of the different cognitive processes involved in topographical orientation to evaluate his ability to navigate the spatial environment. The results confirmed a severe developmental topographical disorder and deficits in a number of specific cognitive processes directly or indirectly involved in navigation. The results are discussed with reference to the sole previously described case of developmental topographical disorientation (Pt1; Iaria et al., 2009). F.G. differs from the former case due to the following: the greater severity of his disorder, his complete lack of navigational skills, the failure to develop compensatory strategies, and the presence of a specific deficit in processing the spatial relationships between the parts of a whole. The present case not only confirms the existence of developmental topographical-skill disorders, but also sheds light on the architecture of topographical processes and their development in human beings.