PATTERNS IN PERCEPTION ON SIMULTANEOUS TESTS OF FACE AND HAND

Abstract

PREVIOUSLY it was shown that examination of the cutaneous modalities by the method of double simultaneous stimulation elicited defects in perception which were not apparent on single stimulation. The defects, described as "extinction," "obscuration," "displacement," and "allesthesia," were observed in groups of patients with localized or diffuse disease of the central nervous system.¹ In each group the defects in cutaneous perception obtained on double simultaneous stimulation were most apparent in the hand and least in the face. The object of the present investigation was to determine the patterns of responses in normal subjects, adults and children to simultaneous stimulation of the face and hand—the "face-hand" test.² The observations on this normal group were then compared to some extent with the responses of patients with organic mental syndromes, aphasia, and schizophrenia. MATERIAL The "normal" subjects were children and adults. These subjects were persons attending hospital clinics in whom there