Inability to copy a drawing or construct, typically associated with right parietal lobe involvement, is best termed which apraxia?

• A. Ideational apraxia
• B. Apraxia
• C. Constructional apraxia
• D. Ideomotor apraxia

Answer: (C)

Copying a drawing or constructing something relies on visuospatial planning and the ability to organize motor actions in space, a function strongly supported by the parietal cortex, especially on the right side. When the right parietal region is damaged, this specific ability to organize and reproduce spatial relations is impaired, leading to constructional apraxia. The person may understand what to draw or build and even move their hand, but they can’t properly plan or execute the spatial layout to reproduce the figure or construct the object.

Ideational apraxia would involve a disruption in the concept or plan of the task itself—difficulty knowing what to do or the steps to use an object—rather than the spatial-organization problem shown in constructional apraxia. Ideomotor apraxia involves trouble translating a known idea into an actual movement on command, not specifically the inability to reproduce spatial configurations.