aggregate

building material
Print  Cite Share Feedback 

By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History

aggregate
See all media
Related Topics:
 
building material

See all related content →

aggregate, in building and construction, material used for mixing with cement,

bitumen, lime, gypsum, or other adhesive to form concrete or mortar.
The aggregate gives volume, stability, resistance to wear or erosion, and other desired
physical properties to the finished product. Commonly used aggregates include sand,
crushed or broken stone, gravel (pebbles), broken blast-furnace slag, boiler ashes
agnosia, loss or diminution of the ability to recognize objects, sounds, smells, tastes, or
other sensory stimuli. Agnosia is sometimes described as perception without meaning.
It is often caused by trauma to or degeneration of the parts of the brain involved in
the integration of experience, perception, and memory. Examples of specific causes
include stroke and carbon monoxide poisoning. In general, only a single sense (e.g.,
vision, hearing, or touch) is affected, and the organs of the
sensory modalities themselves are intact.
There are three major categories of agnosic disorders: visual, auditory, and
somatosensory. Visual agnosias are often described as being either associative or
apperceptive. Associative visual agnosias are characterized by the inability to ascribe
meaning to the objects one sees. Affected individuals cannot distinguish between objects
that are real and those that are not. For example, when presented with drawings of a
real animal, such as a dog, and an unreal animal, such as a dog-headed horse, the
individual cannot recognize the real creature and is not able to categorize either creature
as real or unreal. Persons with prosopagnosia, a type of associative agnosia, are unable
to recognize faces. Apperceptive visual agnosias, also known as visual space agnosias,
are characterized by the inability to perceive the structure or shape of an object. Persons
with apperceptive agnosias have difficulty matching objects of similar form. In most
cases of associative or apperceptive visual agnosia, visual acuity is unaffected; thus,
those persons can detect colour and brightness and can resolve details. Associative and
apperceptive agnosias sometimes occur in conjunction with impairments in memory
or learning and are often associated with damage to the occipital and temporal lobes of
the brain. Some persons are diagnosed with integrative agnosia, a form of visual agnosia
in which symptoms of both associative and apperceptive disorders are present.
BRITANNICA QUIZ

Diseases, Disorders, and More: A Medical Quiz

What condition is caused by the deposition of salts of uric acid? What’s another

name for breakbone fever? Find out what you know about diseases, disorders, and

more.
Auditory agnosias range from the inability to comprehend spoken words (verbal
auditory agnosia) to the inability to recognize nonlinguistic sounds and noises
(nonverbal auditory agnosia) or music (amusia). In young children, acquired verbal
auditory agnosia, which is a symptom of Landau-Kleffner syndrome, may lead
to mutism, or loss of the ability or will to speak. The sensory organ of hearing is intact,
and pure tones can be perceived. Individuals with amusia are unable to recognize that
certain groups of sounds represent music and therefore cannot distinguish music from
other sounds. Those individuals also cannot produce musical sound through singing,
humming, or whistling.

Tactile agnosia is characterized by the lack of ability to recognize objects through touch.
The weight and texture of an object may be perceived, but the person can neither
describe it by name nor comprehend its significance or meaning. Tactile agnosia is
caused by lesions in the brain’s parietal lobe.

Agnosia is diagnosed through physical examination, neuropsychological testing, and

brain imaging. Examples of neuropsychological tests include visual distinction between
real and unreal objects, facial recognition, verbal and nonverbal sound recognition,
odour recognition, and tactile form recognition. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
and computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanning may be used to identify brain
lesions to aid diagnosis.

Few agnosic patients regain sensory function, and most gains in recovery occur within
the first few months or year of diagnosis. Speech therapy and occupational therapy can
help agnosic individuals cope with their conditions.