Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Italy | [b] S. Maugeri Foundation, Scientific Institute of Telese Terme (BN), Italy | [c] Center for Neuropsychological Research, Institute of Neurology, Catholic University, Rome, Italy | [d] IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Department of Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, Rome, Italy
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Luigi Trojano, Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy. Tel./Fax: +39 0823 274784; E-mail: luigi.trojano@unina2.it.
Abstract: Drawing is a multicomponential process that can be impaired by many kinds of brain lesions. Drawing disorders are very common in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and can provide clinical information for the distinction of the different dementing diseases. In our review we started from an overview of the neural and cognitive bases of drawing, and from a recollection of the drawing tasks more frequently used for assessing individuals with dementia. Then, we analyzed drawing disorders in dementia, paying special attention to those observed in Alzheimer’s disease, from the prodromal stages of the amnesic mild cognitive impairment to the stages of full-blown dementia, both in the sporadic forms with late onset in the entorhino-hippocampal structures and in those with early onset in the posterior neocortical structures. We reviewed the drawing features that could differentiate Alzheimer’s disease from vascular dementia and from the most frequent forms of degenerative dementia, namely frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body disease. Finally, we examined some peculiar aspects of drawing disorders in dementia, such as perseverations, rotations, and closing-in. We argue that a careful analysis of drawing errors helps to differentiate the different forms of dementia more than overall accuracy in drawing.
