Shadowing Behavior May Be Associated with an Inability to Recognize the External World: A Case Report of Shadowing in a Patient with Posterior Cortical Atrophy

Abstract

Although shadowing behavior— when one individual closely follows another— is routinely documented among patients with dementia, its mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. In particular, there have been no detailed descriptions of patients with shadowing behavior. To propose its potential backgrounds, we describe a patient with posterior cortical atrophy who exhibited prominent shadowing behavior. He also experienced severe difficulties recognizing external stimuli, including visuospatial dysfunction, several types of agnosia, difficulties in verbal comprehension, disorientation, and its associated depression. This shadowing behavior may be adaptive relative to his extreme difficulty with recognizing the world around him.