Brain and Cognition 40, 464–478 (1999) Article ID brcg.1999.1079, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on Cognitive Processing of Drawing Abilities Fanny Gue ´rin Department of Psychology, Universite ´ de Montre ´al, Montre ´al, Canada; and Centre de Recherche, Institut universitaire de ge ´riatrie de Montre ´al, Quebec, Canada Bernadette Ska Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, Universite ´ de Montre ´al, Montre ´al, Canada; and Centre de Recherche, Institut universitaire de ge ´riatrie de Montre ´al, Quebec, Canada and Sylvie Belleville Department of Psychology, Universite ´ de Montre ´al, Montre ´al, Canada; and Centre de Recherche, Institut universitaire de ge ´riatrie de Montre ´al, Quebec, Canada This critical review examines constructional apraxia from a cognitive neuropsy- chological perspective. To our knowledge, van Sommers (1989) is the only re- searcher to present a global cognitive model of drawing abilities. He organizes it into two hierarchical systems: Marr’s model of visual perception and a graphic production system. The latter comprises four hierarchically organized components: depiction decisions, production strategy, contingent planning, and articulatory and economic constraints. Van Sommers’ model will be discussed in light of other mod- els and on the basis of empirical neuropsychological studies (Farah, 1984; Koss- lyn & Koenig, 1992; Roncato, Sartori, Masterson, & Rumiati, 1987; van Sommers, 1989). We find that: (1) the Kosslyn and Koenig visual perception model describes more accurately the perceptual components underlying copying than the visual per- ception system of van Sommers’ drawing model, (2) Van Sommers’ arguments in favor of a depiction processing as opposed to visual imagery are not convincing, (3) Van Sommers’ assumption that a production strategy is a component is unclear, and (4) articulatory and economic constraints are not cognitive components, but This work was supported by a grant from the Fonds de la Recherche en Sante ´ du Que ´bec. We express our appreciation to Elizabeth Ohashi for her assistance in preparing the manuscript, and to Laure McCormick and Joan Campbell-Moscrop for their comments on it. Correspon- dence and reprint requests should be addressed to Fanny Gue ´rin, Centre de recherche de l’Insti- tut universitaire de ge ´riatrie de Montre ´al, 4565 Queen-Mary Road, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3W 1W5. Fax: (514) 340-3548. E-mail: guerinf@ere.UMontreal.ca. 464 0278-2626/99 $30.00 Copyright  1999 by Academic Press All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.