Copying procedures in focal brain-damaged patients.

We aimed to ascertain whether non-apraxic, focal brain-damaged patients used abnormal constructional procedures. We tested a series of consecutive patients, classified according to lesion locus and side against a matched sample of normal volunteers. Subjects had to copy the Rey-Osterreith Figure, a complex and structured item that explores copying strategies. We used special testing and scoring methods to analyze different steps of the copy. Unlike the controls, the patients did not choose the central elements of the figure as guiding structures. All patient groups followed an equivalent "pathological", "piecemeal" procedure.