Ideational Apraxia - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Liepmann was the first to actually conduct tests to these patients in his laboratory. These tests are known as multiple object tasks or MOT. The tasks involve more than one object with the research describing a task to the patient and having them execute what was described to them. Liepmann gave the patients all the necessary articles, a candle and a matchbox, which are laid in front of the patient. He then observed the patients to see how they interacted with each object. In the case of the matchbox the patient brought the whole box up to the wick, instead of simply taking one match out. Or he takes the box from the case, removes a match, and brings it up to the wick unlighted. Another example would be that the patient takes the candle and actually strikes it against the frictional surface of the matchbox. As Liepmann watched he was able to witness the discontinuity of the patients actions with everyday objects. He was able to categorize the errors that these patients produced: mislocation of actions, object misuse, omissions, perplexity, and sequence errors.

But what should be noted is that even though these patients are unable to perform simple to multiple tasks with items that are given to them they are still able to accurately identify objects through a few simple tasks. Patients were able to match a given sequence of photographs with the correct label such as: the process of making coffee, buttering bread, or preparing tea. These patients are also able to successfully identify objects when a researcher verbally describes the function of the tool. Another test that was used was matching the appropriate object with its function. Lastly, the final test that shows that these patients completely understand object usage is that they could recognize the actions of a given tool by a sequence of photographs.

Therefore, the defect is not whether the patients have a lack of knowledge in the usage of an object. The patients completely understand the function of each tool. The problem lies in that the patients, when given an object, can not produce the correct function with the tool. The actual execution of a multiple object task is flawed.