Agnosia

Overview:

Agnosia is a neurological disorder which affects a single information pathway in the brain. This leads to disability in recognition of faces, voices, objects or places. However, people suffering from Agnosia can still interact with the world normally. As mentioned, Agnosia affects a single pathway when brain suffers certain damage. This pathway connects primary sensory areas that store knowledge and information. These primary sensory regions are mainly visual or auditory cortices. Agnosia is caused by lesions on the parietal or occipital lobes of the brain. There are different types of Agnosia, including Environmental Agnosia, Finger Agnosia, Integrative Agnosia and Topographical disorientation. The primary sensory regions are mainly visual or auditory cortices. Lesions on the parietal or occipital lobes of the brain cause Agnosia. These lobes are vital in storing schematic information and language. Strokes, head traumas, encephalitis, carbon monoxide poisoning, dementia or anoxia generally creates the lesions.

Symptoms:

Sometimes, it is difficult to find whether you have the disease or not, but its symptoms dominate the working of your body so much that you come to know its presence. These symptoms include:

• Inability to identify people and sounds.
• Inability to recognise objects and shapes.
• Inability to recognise any familiar smell.

Causes:

Some of the most probable causes of this disease are:

• Dementia
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• Encephalitis
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Strokes

Risk Factors:

The main risk factors include:

• Injury of head
• Diabetes and obesity
• Smoking
• Ageing

Diagnosis:

To prevent the occurrence of this disease, one needs to take care of following things:

• Avoiding stress and anxiety.
• Avoiding smoking.
• Maintaining a healthy diet.
• Getting regular checkup.