Dr. Gianna Cocchini - Research project

Anosognosia (unawareness) for memory disorders

Anosognosia (unawareness of one’s own deficits) is a common occurrence following lesion of the right hemisphere and manifests itself as a lack of awareness for motor or cognitive (such as memory or language) impairment (Vuilleumier, 2000). For example, a patient with severe memory deficits (amnesia), or unable to move one half of the body (hemiplegia), may vigorously deny having any problem (Cocchini, 2002), and refuse to attend the rehabilitation training (Gialanella & Mattioli, 1992). The mechanisms underlying this syndrome are still unclear and contrasting data support different theoretical approaches. One possible reason for this may depend on the fact that little attention has been paid to devise reliable tools to assess anosognosia (Baier & Karnath, 2005; see Jehkonen, 2006 for a review), and the common methods to assessment anosognosia for memory disorders (e.g. Bennett-Levy & Powell, 1980; Schacter, 1991) may face some methodological limitations.

This PhD project aims to refine new diagnostic tools and investigate possible mechanisms underlying anosognosia for memory disorders.

References

Baier B, Karnath HO. Incidence and diagnosis of anosognosia for hemiparesis revised. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 2005; 76, 358-361.

Bennett-Levy J, Powell, GE. The subjective memory questionnaire (SMQ). AN investigation into the self-reporting of “real-life” memory skills. British journal of Social Clinical Psychology, 1980; 19: 177-188.

Cocchini G, Beschin N, Della Sala S. Chronic anosognosia: a case report and theoretical account. Neuropsychologia, 2002;40:2030-2038.

Gialanella B, Mattioli F. Anosognosia and extrapersonal neglect as predictors of functional recovery following right hemisphere stroke. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 1992; 2:169-178.

Schacter DL. Unawareness of deficit and unawareness of knowledge in patients with memory disorders. In: Prigatano GP, Schacter DL, editors. Awareness of deficit after brain injury. Oxford: University Press, 1991; 127-151.

Vuilleumier P. Anosognosia. In: Bogousslausky J, Cummings JL, editors. Behavior and mood disorders in focal brain lesions. Cambridge: University Press, 2000; 465-519.