Identification of body parts in Alzheimer's disease: evidence for a body schema hypothesis

This study examined the ability of patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) to perform a Body Part Identification (BPI) task, and also explored the relationship between BPI, intellectual level, severity of cognitive impairment and the general insight of patients into their disorder. The results showed that although AD patients are not always impaired on BPI, the degree of impairment correlates with the level of cognitive impairment measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination. The study also showed that BPI is not, however, associated with level of insight into their illness. Taken together these results provide support for the existence of a body schema that can be disrupted by AD, but is independent of the degree of insight into the illness.