Plasticity in spatial neglect: recovery and rehabilitation.

Hemineglect (synonymous: unilateral spatial neglect) denotes the impaired or lost ability to react to or process sensory stimuli (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, imaginal) presented in the hemispace contralateral to a lesioned cerebral hemisphere or to act upon such stimuli motorically (motor neglect). Despite recovery of the most obvious signs of hemineglect in the first 2–3 months after stroke a considerable portion of neglect patients – especially those with large right-hemispheric lesions – remains severely impaired in cognitive and motor tasks, as well as in functional activities of daily living (ADL). Apart from its clinical significance, neglect has attracted many researchers from different faculties because of its multifaceted nature, the associated breakdown of conscious awareness found in victims with this disease, as well as the multimodal nature of the syndrome which provides fascinating opportunities to study crossmodal integration and attention as well as spatial orientation and representation. Although much progress has been made in the understanding of the basic impairments in spatial neglect