Spatial and kinematic features of apraxic movement depend on the mode of execution

Knowledge about the dependency of apraxic movements on the mode of execution may enhance the understanding of apraxia and of the cerebral representation of actions. We examined a common tool-use action in nine patients with left hemisphere damage and apraxia. Arm movements during the use of a handsaw were measured and tested in three different modes of execution: pantomime, pantomime with a bar shaped like the handle of the saw, and actual sawing. Analysis concentrated on spatial and kinematic features of the wrist trajectories during these repetitive movements. In healthy control subjects, both pantomime conditions differed from actual use mainly by larger amplitudes during miming. Apraxic patients executed large proportions of their pantomiming movements in an incorrect direction away from the appropriate anteroposterior direction, while other movement features were normal. The availability of the handle-like bar did not improve performance. During actual use, movement direction was constraint by mechanical demands. In this condition patients moved with moderately decreased velocity. However, this deficit was not related to the errors in movement direction characteristic of pantomiming. These data suggest that pantomiming and actual execution of an action are dictated by different external requirements and constraints, pantomiming serves to convey information, while actual use has to obey the mechanical demands of the task. Due to these differences, spatial and kinematic movement features in healthy subjects vary between the modes of execution, movements are differently vulnerable to apraxia, and deficits in patients may dissociate.

[1]  E. Renzi,et al.  Modality-specific and supramodal mechanisms of apraxia. , 1982, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[2]  J. Hermsdörfer,et al.  Ipsilesional deficits during fast diadochokinetic hand movements following unilateral brain damage , 2002, Neuropsychologia.

[3]  N. Mai,et al.  A computational procedure for movement analysis in handwriting , 1994, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[4]  C. J. Winstein,et al.  Effects of unilateral brain damage on the control of goal-directed hand movements , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[5]  G. Goldenberg,et al.  Tool use and mechanical problem solving in apraxia , 1998, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  H. Liepmann Drei Aufsätze aus dem Apraxiegebiet , 1908 .

[7]  Joachim Hermsdörfer,et al.  Manual and hemispheric asymmetries in the execution of actual and pantomimed prehension , 2005, Neuropsychologia.

[8]  Sandra E. Black,et al.  Transitive gesture production in apraxia: Visual and nonvisual sensory contributions , 2001, Brain and Cognition.

[9]  L. Buxbaum,et al.  The Role of the Dynamic Body Schema in Praxis: Evidence from Primary Progressive Apraxia , 2000, Brain and Cognition.

[10]  Georg Goldenberg,et al.  Apraxia and Beyond: Life and Work of Hugo Liepmann , 2003, Cortex.

[11]  K M Heilman,et al.  Three-dimensional computergraphic analysis of apraxia. Neural representations of learned movement. , 1990, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[12]  R T Knight,et al.  Spatial deficits in ideomotor limb apraxia. A kinematic analysis of aiming movements. , 1999, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[13]  S. Glasauer,et al.  Moving weightless objects , 2000, Experimental Brain Research.

[14]  H. Freund Higher-order motor disorders : from neuroanatomy and neurobiology to clinical neurology , 2005 .

[15]  D. Harrington,et al.  Limb-Sequencing Deficits After Left but not Right Hemisphere Damage , 1994, Brain and Cognition.

[16]  K M Heilman,et al.  Joint coordination deficits in limb apraxia. , 1995, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[17]  J. Hermsdörfer,et al.  Prehension With the Ipsilesional Hand After Unilateral Brain Damage , 1999, Cortex.

[18]  M. Jeannerod,et al.  Is the organisation of goal-directed action modality specific? A common temporal structure , 2000, Neuropsychologia.

[19]  Georg Goldenberg,et al.  Defective pantomime of object use in left brain damage: apraxia or asymbolia? , 2003, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  Charalambos Papaxanthis,et al.  Effects of movement direction upon kinematic characteristics of vertical arm pointing movements in man , 1998, Neuroscience Letters.

[21]  D. Westwood,et al.  Manual asymmetries in tool-use: Implications for apraxia , 2002, Laterality.

[22]  J Hermsdörfer,et al.  The dependence of ipsilesional aiming deficits on task demands, lesioned hemisphere, and apraxia , 2003, Neuropsychologia.

[23]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Cognitive representations of hand posture in ideomotor apraxia , 2003, Neuropsychologia.

[24]  A. Sunderland,et al.  Impaired dexterity of the ipsilateral hand after stroke and the relationship to cognitive deficit. , 1999, Stroke.

[25]  J Hermsdörfer,et al.  The effect of tactile feedback on pantomime of tool use in apraxia , 2004, Neurology.

[26]  Thomas J. Boll,et al.  Handbook of clinical neuropsychology , 1981 .

[27]  H. Tanabe,et al.  Role of Somatosensory Feedback from Tools in Realizing Movements by Patients with Ideomotor Apraxia , 1999, European Neurology.

[28]  K M Heilman,et al.  Spatial planning deficits in limb apraxia. , 1994, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[29]  J Hermsdörfer,et al.  Kinematic analysis of movement imitation in apraxia. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[30]  A W Young,et al.  Dyspraxia in a patient with corticobasal degeneration: the role of visual and tactile inputs to action , 1999, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[31]  A. Longoni,et al.  Problems in the Assessment of Hand Preference , 1985, Cortex.

[32]  D. Westwood,et al.  Task Demands and Limb Apraxia in Stroke , 2000, Brain and Cognition.

[33]  L. Jakobson,et al.  Differences in the visual control of pantomimed and natural grasping movements , 1994, Neuropsychologia.