Cognitive approach to the assessment of limb apraxia.

A new instrument for the assessment of the different levels of gesture processing, as identified by recent cognitive models of apraxia, is presented. The battery comprises thirteen tasks -- eight assess the production of meaningful gestures both on command and on imitation, four tasks assess the ability to recognize and identify gestures, and one task assesses imitation of meaningless gestures. The battery encompasses a novel test of gesture production on visual command. A total of 60 healthy British volunteers were tested with the entire battery. On the whole, participants made more errors with pantomimes than with other tasks. Their scores served as norms.