Deficits in Visuospatial/Visuoconstructional Skills and Motor Praxis

Visuospatial and visuoperceptual skills play a role in every day ­functioning; however, they are typically automatic. We process information visually and make identifications and analyze complex visual stimuli and are largely unaware of the visuoperceptual process involved or complexities of the stimuli that were analyzed. As an example, assume that you have purchased a new car and now suddenly that make and model seems to be everywhere. You suddenly notice the different colors in which the car comes, the different trim packages, and optional equipment (i.e., roof racks, spoiler, etc.). Soon you find yourself distinguishing among similar year models based on detail changes such as tail light configuration or color-matching door hardware. You can also identify this car from multiple angles (front, side, rear, corner, etc.) These complex stimuli are typically automatically perceived, poorly verbally labeled, yet precisely and accurately analyzed and identified. The centers in the brain that process such information are ever vigilant to visual and visuospatial stimuli and organized to simultaneously and sequentially take that information and transform it into usable, salient information or associated knowledge. All this occurs in a split second and typically below our level of awareness. While this process can certainly be consciously controlled, typically in novel learning or acquisition stages, our nature is to use repetition, familiarity or repeated recurrence to allow for more automatic processing and save the conscious and effortful processing capacities for the novel or necessary tasks at hand.