title: Improvement of left visuo-spatial hemineglect by left-sided transcutaneous electrical stimulation.
abstract: The effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation on left visuo-spatial hemineglect, assessed by a visuo-motor exploratory task (letter cancellation), were investigated in patients with right hemisphere lesions. In Experiment 1 left neck stimulation temporarily improved the deficit in 13 out of 14 patients (93%), while stimulation of the right neck had no positive effects, worsening exploratory performance in nine patients (64%). Experiment 2 showed that left neck stimulation temporarily improved neglect also when head movements were prevented by a chin-rest. In Experiment 3, stimulation of both the left hand and left neck had comparable positive effects on visuo-spatial hemineglect. These results are interpreted in terms of: (1) non-specific activation of the right hemisphere, contralateral to the stimulation side; (2) specific directional effects of left somatosensory stimulation on the egocentric co-ordinates of extra-personal space, which in neglect patients are distorted towards the side of the brain lesion.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Roma, La Sapienza, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vallar
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Rusconi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barozzi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bernardini
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ovadia
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papagno
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cesarani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013028:Space Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; D014794:Visual Fields; D014796:Visual Perception