agnosia

Neuro term. 1. The inability to recognize a coin, key, or other object merely by its feel, e.g., when held in the hand. 2. The inability to recognize a door by the sound of its slamming or from its photograph alone. 3. In agnosia, while perception itself (i.e., feeling a coin's shape or hearing a door slam) is normal, recognition of objects is not.

Usage: Studies of agnosia reveal how the brain processes nonverbal gestures, objects, and sensations apart from speech or words. (Though very vocal, human beings still spend a great deal of their lives in Nonverbal World.)

Stereognosis: The tactile ability to recognize objects placed in the hand. (Graphesthesia is the tactile ability to recognize figures drawn on the skin.)

Neuro-notes. 1. Inability to recognize a coin by the sound of its dropping suggests problems with the auditory association areas of the temporal lobe. 2. Inability to recognize a coin held in the hand suggests problems with the tactile association areas of the parietal lobe. 3. Inability to recognize a coin by its photograph suggests problems with the visual association areas of the occipital lobe. These nonverbal brain modules exist independently of the cortical modules used to recognize and produce speech sounds.