Affiliations: S.C. Medicina Riabilitativa, Ospedali Riuniti di
Trieste, Trieste, Italy | Department of Psychology, University of Trieste,
Trieste, Italy | Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, and
I.R.C.C.S. Ospedale S. Camillo, Lido di Venezia, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Carlo Semenza, Dipartimento di
Neuroscienze, Università di Padova, Via Giustiniani 5, 35100, Padova,
Italy. Tel.: +39 049 8214360; Fax: +39 049 8751770; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: The case is reported of a patient (PS) who, following acute
encephalitis with residual occipito-temporal damage, showed a selective deficit
in writing cursive letters in isolation, but no difficulty to write
cursive-case words and non-words. Notably, he was able to recognize the same
allographs he could not write and to produce both single letters and words in
print. In addition to this selective single letter writing difficulty, the
patient demonstrated an inability to correctly perform a series of imagery
tasks for cursive letters. PS's performance may indicate that single letter production requires
explicit imagery. Explicit imagery may not be required, instead, when letters
have to be produced in the context of a word: letter production in this case
may rely on implicit retrieval of well learned scripts in a procedural way.
Keywords: Allographic agraphia, word/letter dissociation, letter production, letter font, letter case
