Orientation to person, orientation to self

The neurologic examination often begins and then dispenses with an assessment of “orientation to person,” a deceptively simple notion that has several features atypical of other elements of the examination. Unlike other principal components of the neurologic examination, orientation to person does not clearly correspond to a localizable function of the brain or nervous system, and there is no consensus on how it should be tested, what it signifies, and under what circumstances—if ever—it can truly be lost.