Topic: Amusia – Perceptual Disorder

Topic: Amusia – Perceptual Disorder

This course focuses on sensation and perception and we sometimes briefly discuss disorders or conditions that affect perceptual abilities. For this assignment, you will further explore a perceptual disorder or condition. You will pick one perceptual disorder to discuss in a 2-3 page paper. You should pretend you are trying to teach someone all about the disorder and give an overview of information about it. Your textbook is a good starting point, but you will have to go to outside sources for more information (the textbook may provide some articles depending on which disorder, so check the extra resources from the book). When using the internet, make sure that it is a reliable site (i.e. not just someone’s blog, etc.). If it is a news story you should try to find the original source (i.e. any research articles it discusses). The following information should be included in your paper:

Part 1: Define and describe the disorder. What is it? What are the symptoms or behaviors of the disorder, what do these look like, giving specific examples? How are people impacted in their day to day lives by these symptoms/behaviors? (30 points)

Part 2: State the prevalence of the disorder. How common is it? Who gets it/how does it occur? Are some people more susceptible or more likely to be affected by it than others (i.e. elderly, young, etc.)? Is it developmental (congenital) or acquired or are there both types? (15 points)

Part 3: State the causes of the disorder. What is going on, especially in the brain? If it is due to damage, what specific area and what does this area do? Are there different causes in different people, if so state this and describe all the potential causes? If it is developmental what areas are thought to be affected and how are these areas different (i.e. different size, different activation, etc.)? What has research told us about what is going on or any differences? (40 points)

Part 4: State any treatments for the disorder. What is the most common treatment? Are there other less common treatments available? Is there any research on potential treatments? If there are not treatments are there any things that can be done to improve people’s lives or help them compensate for the problems associated with the disorder? Can you think of any research that could be done to further treatment for the disorder? (15 points)

You may choose from the following list of disorders. If there is a different disorder that you would like to do, please just get approval first.

· Blindsight

· Object Agnosia

· Prosopagnosia

· Akinetopsia

· Hemispatial (visual) Neglect

· Wernicke’s Aphasia

· Auditory Agnosia and Pure Word Deafness

· Amusia

· Phantom Pain

· Tactile Agnosia

· Anosmia (Olfactory Agnosia)

· Synesthesia – choose a specific type to focus on

Answer preview:

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