Somatoparaphrenia: evolving theories and concepts

Todd E Feinberg; Annalena Venneri

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2014.07.004

Somatoparaphrenia: evolving theories and concepts

Cortex. 2014 Dec:61:74-80. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.07.004. Epub 2014 Jul 22.

Authors

Todd E Feinberg¹, Annalena Venneri²

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Yarmon Neurobehavior and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: tfeinber@chpnet.org.
² Department of Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, UK and IRCCS San Camillo Foundation Hospital, Venice, Italy.

PMID: 25481466
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.07.004

Abstract

Somatoparaphrenia, a syndrome that involves at a minimum unawareness of ownership of a body part, in addition involves productive features including delusional misidentification and confabulation. In this review we describe some of the clinical and neuroanatomical features of somatoparaphrenia highlighting its delusional and confabulatory aspects. Possible theoretical frameworks are reviewed taking into account cognitive, psychodynamic, and philosophical views. We suggest that future studies should approach this syndrome through investigations of structural and functional connectivity and focus on the possible interplay between alterations in major functional networks of the brain, such as the default mode and salience networks, but also take into account motivational variables.

Keywords: Asomatognosia; Confabulation; Delusional misidentification; Self-boundaries; Somatoparaphrenia.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Agnosia / diagnosis
Agnosia / psychology*
Brain / pathology
Brain / physiopathology*
Brain Mapping*
Delusions / diagnosis
Delusions / physiopathology*
Humans
Nerve Net / physiopathology*
Neuropsychological Tests