Abstract
Apraxia is one of the cognitive deficits that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease. Despite its prevalence and relevance to diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, this topic has received little attention and is without comprehensive review. The review herein is aimed to fill this gap by first presenting an overview of the impairment caused in different clinical situations: pantomime of tool use, single tool use, real tool use, mechanical problem solving, function and manipulation knowledge tasks, and symbolic/meaningless gestures. On the basis of these results, we then propose alternative interpretations regarding the nature of the underlying mechanisms impaired by the disease. Also presented are principal methodological issues precluding firm conclusions from being drawn.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In the references, the studies preceded by (*), are those for which the data could have been transformed in percentage of accuracy for patients and controls. The results of these studies can be seen in the tables and the figures of this review. The studies preceded by (•) do not display data for controls (e.g., study of 1 case) and consequently the results can solely be seen in the tables of this review. The methods and type of data analyzed in the studies preceded by (♦) did not allow us to convert the performances of patients and controls in accuracy percentages (Benke et al. 1993; Parakh et al. 2004). The results of those studies do not appear in any figure or table but are discussed in the text. Finally, studies preceded by (°) are mentioned but cannot be discussed in the present review either because they are beyond the scope of this review (i.e., Jacobs et al. 1999) or because of methodological problems (Della Sala et al. 1987; Lucchelli et al., 1987; both symbolic and meaningless gestures were used for the imitation task; Giovannetti et al. 2006b: two of the 16 patients included in the study did not meet criteria for AD and were ultimately diagnosed with mixed dementia).
We also used other procedures such as the ratio patients’/controls’ performance, but the results did not differ whatever the procedure used.
This difference was significant for the study of Parakh et al. (2004) while this information was not available in the study of Rousseaux et al. (2012). Note also that the results of Parakh et al. (2004) are not shown in Table 2 and Fig. 3 because they were expressed in z-scores and we could not obtain the raw data.
However, it is important to remind that we did not include in the present review the results of studies on everyday actions such as the naturalistic action test (e.g., Giovannetti et al. 2006a). More particularly, as mentioned above, executive functions are highly involved in this kind of tasks and, consequently, the interpretation of the results observed in these tasks are beyond the scope of the present review. Note also that we did not report the results of Benke (1993) because the data could not be transformed into percentages.
The four sub-groups of Ochipa et al. (1992) were formed on the basis of the difficulties in terms of ideomotor praxis and semantic language impairment. Nevertheless, it is very likely that the different sub-groups also correspond to patients at different stages of the disease. So given that we could not obtain this information, we considered that the different sub-groups corresponded with patients at different stages of the disease.
References
*Adlam, A.L.R., Bozeat, S., Arnold, R., Watson, P., Hodges, J.R. (2006). Semantic knowledge in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex, 42, 675–684.
Bartolo, A., Daumüller, M., Della Sala, S., & Goldenberg, G. (2007). Relationship between object-related gestures and the fractionated object knowledge system. Behavioural Neurology, 18, 143–147.
♦Benke, T. (1993). Two forms of apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex, 29, 715–725.
Benson, D. F., Davis, R. J., & Snyder, B. D. (1988). Posterior cortical atrophy. Archives of Neurology, 45, 789–793.
*Blondel, A., Desgranges, B., de la Sayette, V., Schaeffer, S., Benali, K., Lechevalier, et al. (2001). Disorders in intentional gestural organization in Alzheimer’s disease: combined or selective impairment of the conceptual and production systems ? European Journal of Neurology, 8, 629–641.
Bozeat, S., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Patterson, K., & Hodges, J. R. (2002a). When objects lose their meaning: What happens to their use? Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neurosciences, 2, 236–251.
Bozeat, S., Ralph, M. A., Patterson, K., & Hodges, J. R. (2002b). The influence of personal familiarity and context on object use in semantic dementia. Neurocase, 8, 127–134.
Buxbaum, L. J. (2001). Ideomotor apraxia: a call to action. Neurocase, 7, 445–448.
Buxbaum, L. J., Giovannetti, T., & Libon, D. (2000a). The role of the dynamic body schema in praxis: Evidence from primary progressive apraxia. Brain and Cognition, 44, 166–191.
Buxbaum, L. J., Kyle, K. M., Grossman, M., & Coslett, H. B. (2007). Left inferior parietal representations for skilled hand-object interactions: evidence from stroke and corticobasal degeneration. Cortex, 43, 411–423.
Buxbaum, L. J., Kyle, K. M., & Menon, R. (2005). On beyond mirror neurons: internal representations subserving imitation and recognition of skilled object-related actions in humans. Cognitive Brain Research, 25, 226–239.
Buxbaum, L. J., & Saffran, E. M. (2002). Knowledge of object manipulation and object function: dissociations in apraxic and nonapraxic subjects. Brain and Language, 82, 179–199.
Buxbaum, L. J., Schwartz, M. F., & Carew, T. G. (1997). The role of memory in object use. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 14, 219–254.
Buxbaum, L. J., Veramonti, T., & Schwartz, M. F. (2000b). Function and manipulation tool knowledge in apraxia: knowing “what for” but not “how”. Neurocase, 6, 83–97.
Chainay, H., Louarn, C., & Humphreys, G. W. (2006). Ideational action impairments in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain and Cognition, 62, 198–205.
*Crutch, S.J., Rossor, M.N., Warrington, E.K. (2007). The quantitative assessment of apraxic deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex, 43, 976–986.
Cubelli, R., & Della Sala, S. (1996). The legacy of automatic/voluntary dissociation in apraxia. Neurocase, 2, 449–454.
Cubelli, R., Marchetti, C., Boscolo, G., & Della Sala, S. (2000). Cognition in action: testing a model of limb apraxia. Brain and Cognition, 44, 144–165.
°Della Sala, S., Lucchelli, F., & Spinnler, H. (1987). Ideomotor apraxia in patients with dementia of Alzheimer type. Journal of Neurology, 234, 91–93.
De Renzi, E. (1989). Apraxia. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of neuropsychology (pp. 245–263). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.
De Renzi, E., Faglioni, P., & Sorgato, P. (1982). Modality-specific and supramodal mechanisms of apraxia. Brain, 101, 301–312.
De Renzi, E., & Lucchelli, F. (1988). Ideational apraxia. Brain, 111, 1173–1185.
De Vignemont, F. (2009). Body schema and body image. Neuropsychologia, 48, 669–680.
Derouesné, C., Lagha-Pierucci, S., Thibault, S., Baudoin-Madec, V., & Lacomblez, L. (2000). Neuropsychologia, 38, 1760–1769.
Donkervoort, M., Dekker, J., & Deelman, B. G. (2002). Sensitivity of different ADL measures to apraxia and motor impairments. Clinical Rehabilitation, 16, 299–305.
Dubois, B., Feldman, H. H., Jacova, C., Cummings, J. L., DeKosky, S. T., Barbeger-Gateau, P., et al. (2010). Revising the definition of Alzheimer’s disease: a new lexicon. The Lancet Neurology, 9, 1118–1127.
Dubois, B., Feldman, H. H., Jacova, C., DeKosky, S. T., Barbeger-Gateau, P., et al. (2007). Research criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: revising the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. The Lancet Neurology, 6, 734–746.
*Dumont, C., Ska, B., & Joanette, Y. (2000). Conceptual apraxia and semantic memory deficit in Alzheimer’s disease: two sides of the same coin ? Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 693–703.
♦Edwards, D.F., Deuel, R.K., Baum, C.M., Morris, J.C. (1991). A quantitative analysis of apraxia in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type: stage-related differences in prevalence and type. Dementia, 2, 142–149.
Forde, E. M. E., & Humphreys, G. W. (2000). The role of semantic knowledge and working memory in everyday tasks. Brain and Cognition, 44, 214–252.
*Foundas, A.L., Macauley, B.L., Raymer, A.M., Maher, L.M., Rothi, L.J.G., Heilman, K. M. (1999). Ideomotor apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease and left hemispheric stroke: limb transitive and intransitive movements. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and behavioral Neurology, 12, 161–166.
Geschwind, N. (1965). Disconnection syndrome in animal and man. Brain, 88, 585–644.
Giannakopoulos, P., Duc, M., Gold, G., Hof, P. R., Michel, J.-P., & Bouras, C. (1998). Pathologic correlates of apraxia in Alzheimer disease. Archive of Neurology, 55, 689–695.
Giovannetti, T., Schmidt, K. S., Gallo, J. L., Sestito, N., & Libon, D. J. (2006). Everyday action in dementia: evidence for differential deficits in Alzheimer’s disease versus subcortical vascular dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12, 45–53.
°Giovannetti, T., Sestito, N., Libon, D.J., Schmidt, K.S., Gallo, J.L., Gambino, et al. (2006b). The influence of personal familiarity on object naming, knowledge, and use in dementia. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 607–614.
Goldenberg, G. (1995). Imitating gestures and manipulating a manikin – The representation of the human body in ideomotor apraxia. Neuropsychologia, 33, 63–72.
Goldenberg, G. (1999). Matching and imitation of hand and finger postures in patients with damage in the left or right hemispheres. Neuropsychologia, 37, 559–566.
Goldenberg, G. (2003). Apraxia and beyond: life and work of Hugo Liepmann. Cortex, 39, 509–524.
Goldenberg, G. (2009). Apraxia and the parietal lobes. Neuropsychologia, 47, 1449–1559.
Goldenberg, G., & Hagmann, S. (1997). The meaning of meaningless gestures: a study of visuo-imitative apraxia. Neuropsychologia, 35, 333–341.
Goldenberg, G., & Hagmann, S. (1998). Tool use and mechanical problem solving in apraxia. Neuropsychologia, 36, 581–589.
Goldenberg, G., Hentze, S., & Hermsdörfer, J. (2004). The effect of tactile feedback on pantomime of tool use in apraxia. Neurology, 63, 1863–1867.
Goldenberg, G., & Spatt, J. (2009). The neural basis of tool use. Brain, 132, 1645–1655.
Graham, N. L., Zeman, A., Young, A. W., Patterson, K., & Hodges, J. R. (1999). Dyspraxia in a patient with corticobasal degeneration: the role of visual and tactile inputs to action. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 67, 334–344.
Green, R. C., Goldstein, F. C., Mira, S. S., Alazraki, N. P., Baxt, J. L., & Bakay, R. A. (1995). Slowly progressive apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 59, 312–315.
Harley, T. A. (2004). Does cognitive neuropsychology have a future ? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21, 3–16.
Hartmann, K., Goldenberg, G., Daumüller, M., & Hermsdörfer, J. (2005). It takes the whole brain to make a cup of coffee: the neuropsychology of naturalistic actions involving technical devices. Neuropsychologia, 43, 625–627.
Heilman, K. M., Rothi, L. J. G., Mack, L., Feinberg, T., & Watson, R. T. (1986). Apraxia after superior parietal lesions. Cortex, 32, 141–150.
Heilman, K. M., Rothi, L. J., & Valenstein, E. (1982). Two forms of ideomotor apraxia. Neurology, 22, 342–346.
Heilman, K. M., & Watson, R. T. (2008). The disconnection apraxias. Cortex, 44, 975–982.
Hermsdörfer, J., Hentze, S., & Goldenberg, G. (2006). Spatial and kinematic features of apraxic movement depend on the mode of execution. Neuropsychologia, 44, 1642–1652.
Hodges, J. R., Bozeat, S., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Patterson, K., & Spatt, J. (2000). The role of knowledge in object use: evidence from semantic dementia. Brain, 123, 1913–1925.
Hodges, J. R., Spatt, J., & Patterson, K. (1999). What” and “how”: evidence for the dissociation of object knowledge and mechanical problem-solving skills in the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96, 9444–9448.
°Jacobs, D.H., Adair, J.C., Williamson, D.J.G., Na, D.L., Gold, M., Foundas, A.L., et al. (1999). Apraxia and motor-skill acquisition in Alzheimer’s disease are dissociable. Neuropsychologia, 37, 875–880.
Jarry, C., Osiurak, F., Delafuys, D., Chauviré, V., Etcharry-Bouyx, F., Le Gall, D. (2013). Apraxia of tool use: more evidence for the technical reasoning hypothesis. Cortex. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2013.02.011.
*Kato, M., Meguro, K., Sato, M., Shimada, Y., Yamazaki, H., Saito, H., et al. (2000). Ideomotor apraxia in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: why do they use their body parts as objects? Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and behavioral Neurology, 14, 45–52.
Kirk, A., & Kertesz, A. (1991). On drawing impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. Archives of Neurology, 48, 73–77.
Lauro-Grotto, R., Piccini, C., & Shallice, T. (1997). Modality-specific operations in semantic dementia. Cortex, 33, 593–622.
°Lucchelli, F., Lopez, O.L., Faglioni, P., Boller, F. (1993). Ideomotor and ideational apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 8, 413–417.
Luria, A. R., & Tsvetkova, L. S. (1964). The programming of constructive activity in local brain injuries. Neuropsychologia, 2, 95–107.
McKhann, G., Drachman, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D., & Stadlan, E. M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 34, 939–944.
Mesulam, M. M. (2003). Primary progressive aphasia – A language based dementia. The New England Journal of Medicine, 349, 1535–1542.
•Moreaud, O., Charnallet, A., Pellat, J. (1998). Identification without manipulation: a study of the relations between object use and semantic memory. Neuropsychologia, 36, 1295–1301.
*Mozaz, M., Garaigorbodil, M., Rothi, L. J. G., Anderson, J., Crucian, G. P., Heilman, K. M. (2006). Posture recognition in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain and Cognition, 62, 241–245.
•Negri, G.A., Lunardelli, A., Reverberi, C., Gigli, G.L., Rumiati, R.I. (2007). Degraded semantic knowledge and accurate object use. Cortex, 43, 376–388.
Ochipa, C., Rothi, L. J. G., & Heilman, K. M. (1989). Ideational apraxia: a deficit in tool selection and use. Annals of Neurology, 25, 190–193.
*Ochipa, C., Rothi, L.J. G., Heilman, K.M. (1992). Conceptual apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain, 115, 1061–1071.
*Okazaki, M., Kasai, M., Meguro, K., Yamaguchi, S., Ishii, H. (2009). Disturbances in everyday life activities and sequence disabilities in tool use for Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 22, 215–221.
Osiurak, F., Aubin, G., Allain, P., Jarry, C., Richard, I., & Le Gall, D. (2008). Object usage and object utilization. A single-case study. Neurocase, 14, 169–183.
Osiurak, F., Jarry, C., Allain, P., Aubin, G., Etcharry-Bouyx, F., Richard, I., et al. (2007). Des troubles praxiques aux troubles techniques. Une étude de deux cas. Revue de Neuropsychologie, 17, 231–259.
Osiurak, F., Jarry, C., Allain, P., Aubin, G., Etcharry-Bouyx, F., Richard, I., et al. (2009). Unusual use of objects after unilateral brain damage. The technical reasoning model. Cortex, 45, 769–783.
Osiurak, F., Jarry, C., & Le Gall, D. (2010). Grasping the affordances, understanding the reasoning. Toward a dialectical theory of human tool use. Psychological Review, 117, 517–540.
Osiurak, F., Jarry, C., & Le Gall, D. (2011). Re-examining the gesture engram hypothesis. New perspectives on apraxia of tool use. Neuropsychologia, 49, 299–312.
Osiurak, F., Jarry, C., Lesourd, M., Baumard, J., Le Gall, D. (2013). Mechanical problem-solving strategies in left-brain damaged patients and apraxia of tool use. Neuropsychologia, 51, 1964–1972.
Osiurak, F., & Le Gall, D. (2012). Apraxia: clinical types, theoretical models, and evaluation. In T. Heinbockel (Ed.), Neuroscience (pp. 69–92). InTech.
♦Parakh, R., Roy, E., Koo, E., Black, S. (2004). Pantomime and imitation of limb gestures in relation to the severity of Alzheimer’s disease. Brain and Cognition, 55, 272–274.
*Rapcsak, S. Z., Croswell, S. C., Rubens, A. B. (1989). Apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 39, 664–668.
Rothi, L. J. G., Ochipa, C., & Heilman, K. M. (1991). A cognitive neuropsychological model of limb praxis. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 8, 443–458.
*Rousseaux, M., Rénier, J., Anicet, L., Pasquier, F., Mackowiak-Cordoliani, M.A. (2012). Gesture comprehension, knowledge and production in Alzheimer’s disease. European Journal of Neurology, 19, 1037–1044.
Roy, E. A., & Square, P. A. (1985). Common considerations in the study of limb, verbal and oral apraxia. In E. A. Roy (Ed.), Neuropsychological studies of apraxia and related disorders (pp. 111–161). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Salter, J. E., Roy, E. A., Black, S. E., Joshi, A., & Almeida, Q. (2004). Gestural imitation and limb apraxia in corticobasal degeneration. Brain and Cognition, 55, 400–402.
*Schwartz, R.L., Adair, J.C., Raymer, A.M., Williamson, D.J.G., Crosson, B., Rothi, L.J.G., et al. (2000). Conceptual apraxia in probable Alzheimer’s disease as demonstrated by the Florida Action Recall Test. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 265–270.
Silveri, M. C., & Ciccarelli, N. (2009). Semantic memory in object use. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2634–2641.
Sirigu, A., Duhamel, J.-R., & Poncet, M. (1991). The role of sensorimotor experience in object recognition. Brain, 114, 2555–2573.
Sperling, R. A., Aisen, P. S., Beckett, L. A., Bennett, D. A., Craft, S., Fagan, A. M., et al. (2011). Toward defining the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 7, 280–292.
Stopford, C. L., Snowden, J. S., Thompson, J. C., & Neary, D. (2008). Variability in cognitive presentation of Alzheimer’s disease. Cortex, 44, 185–195.
Tessari, A., Canessa, N., Ukmar, M., & Rumiati, R. I. (2007). Neuropsychological evidence for a strategic control of multiple routes in imitation. Brain, 130, 1111–1126.
*Travniczek-Marterer, A., Danielczyk, W., Simanyi, M., Fischer, P. (1993). Ideomotor apraxia in Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 88, 1–4.
Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of memory (pp. 381–403). London: Academic.
Wada, Y., Nakagawa, Y., Nishikawa, T., Aso, N., Inokowa, M., Kashiwagi, A., et al. (1999). Role of somatosensory feedback from tools in realizing movements by patients with ideomotor apraxia. European Neurology, 41, 73–78.
Walther, S., Vanbellingen, T., Muri, R., Strik, W., & Bohlalter, S. (2013). Impaired pantomime in schizophrenia: association with frontal lobe function. Cortex, 49, 520–527.
Warren, M. (1981). Relationship of constructional apraxia and body scheme disorders to dressing performance in adult CVA. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 7, 431–437.
*Willis, L., Behrens, M., Mack, W., Chui, H. (1998). Ideomotor apraxia in early Alzheimer’s disease: time and accuracy measures. Brain and Cognition, 38, 220–233.
Yamaguchi, H., Maki, Y., & Yamagami, T. (2010). Yamaguchi fox-pigeon imitation test: a rapid test for dementia. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 29, 254–258.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grants from ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche; Project Démences et Utilisation d’Outils/Dementia and Tool Use, N°ANR 2011 MALZ 006 03) to François Osiurak and Didier Le Gall, Région Pays de la Loire (Project Outils et Vie Quotidienne/Tool Use and Daily Life Activities, 2012-09689 OVQ) to Didier Le Gall, and was performed within the framework of the LABEX CORTEX (ANR-11-LABX-0042) of Université de Lyon (François Osiurak), within the program “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-0007) operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lesourd, M., Le Gall, D., Baumard, J. et al. Apraxia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Review and Perspectives. Neuropsychol Rev 23, 234–256 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-013-9235-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-013-9235-4