Systematic individual neuroanatomical (MRI) and neuropsychological investigations were conducted for nine patients with unilateral neglect persisting at least 3 months after a cerebral vascular accident. The pattern of referrals, together with subsequent investigation, demonstrates that persisting neglect is rare in both right- and left-hemispheric lesioned patients. But while persisting neglec...

The aim of this review is to provide a unified perspective of unilateral spatial neglect (USN). USN is a neurological disorder frequently observed following damage or diseases to the brain. It is particularly associated with strokes to specific anatomical structures within the right hemisphere. Patients with USN fail to respond to or orient towards stimuli located in the hemispace contralateral...

Recent evidence suggests that visual working memory (VWM) load reduces performance accuracy on a concurrent visual recognition task, particularly for objects presented in the left hemifield. It has also been shown that high VWM load causes suppression of activity in the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Given the resemblance of VWM load effects to symptoms of unilateral neglect (i.e., impai...

Unilateral neglect is a common neurological syndrome resulting from right-hemisphere strokes and has important prognostic value for functional outcome. This article identifies three approaches to neglect rehabilitation that are based on right-hemispheric activation mechanisms: (a) the lateralized task approach, (b) the controlled sensory stimulation approach, and (c) the limb activation approac...

Unilateral spatial neglect refers to a difficulty in detecting or acting on information in a particular region of space. When asked to cross out stimuli distributed across a page, patients with neglect may miss many targets on the left. In addition, they have a tendency to return to, and re-mark, right-sided targets that they have already cancelled. A recent retrospective study has shown this e...

A significant association between visual field deficits (VFD) and visuo-spatial neglect is well established, although cases of double-dissociation between the two conditions are not uncommon. It has been argued that VFD typically exacerbates the behavioural manifestations of neglect. We examined a series of 51 patients with unilateral right-hemisphere stroke for the presence of visual field def...

Objective: A case that developed unilateral posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) after carotid artery stenting (CAS) is reported. Case Presentation: The patient was a 79-year-old man who underwent CAS for symptomatic right internal carotid artery stenosis. Left hemiparesis and unilateral spatial neglect appeared on the day after the procedure. MRI presented findings characteristi...

Right brain damaged patients affected by left unilateral neglect (N+) typically fail to explore the contralesional space. For the first time, this study investigates the dynamic and spatial features of the horizontal vestibular-ocular response (VOR), the optokinetic response (OKR) and the VOR-OKR interaction in six N+ and in five right brain damaged patients without neglect (N-). No lateral asy...

In the current issue of Cortex, Pavani and colleagues show that directing gaze toward the contralesional hemifield significantly diminishes the auditory deficits associated with unilateral neglect. The authors suggest that this beneficial effect of gaze direction may arise due to the recruitment of crossmodal attentional links between audition and vision. A complementary interpretation of these...

Right unilateral spatial neglect (USN) was investigated on three left brain-damaged patients suffering from the right homonymous hemianopsia and hemiplegia. A test battery consisted of visuo-constructive praxis; 1) putting blocks into a box, 2) bisecting a horizontal line, 3) figure drawing, 4) drawing of a dial plate and 5) copying drawing. The investigation revealed that USN of left brain-dam...