Walsh & Hoyt: Color Anomia and Agnosia

Some patients cannot recognize or name colors even though they can perceive them. Thus, while patients with achromatopsia cannot discriminate hue and saturation, though some can name some colors, those with color anomia and color agnosia can discriminate colors accurately but not name them. Such patients may not be aware of their deficits. Relevant to this type of defect, PET studies identified regions in the posterior inferior ventral temporal lobe (just anterior to that activated by color perception), parieto-occipital junction, and left lingual gyrus that were activated by color names.