Brief remission periods in visuospatial neglect: evidence from long-term follow-up.
Ten patients with left-sided visuospatial neglect due to cerebrovascular accident were monitored using the Behavioural Inattention Test (BIT) at weekly intervals, on a long-term basis. The novel finding was that some patients showed occasional but transitory marked improvement in their visuospatial neglect at times producing a normal score. This spontaneous phenomenon was evidenced by the patient cancelling sections or the entire block of left-sided targets, without any additional cues or prompts. Such episodes indicate that, in this small group of patients, visuospatial neglect is not necessarily irrevocable, at least for simple stimuli.
University Department of Clinical Neurology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK.
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D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012016:Reference Values; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D014792:Visual Acuity