title: Unilateral neglect is not unilateral: evidence for additional neglect of extreme right space.
abstract: Six patients with visuospatial neglect following right hemisphere lesions were given three tasks that assessed performance in areas of space ranging from extreme left to extreme right. A line bisection task required the patients to detect and bisect lines of four different lengths at seven left-right spatial locations, a number report task required the patients to name 11 two-digit numbers in a left-right array, and a tiling task required patients to place small black tiles over the black squares of a grid that stretched from 65 degrees left to 65 degrees right. Performance was compared with that of 20 age-matched controls. The patients showed the characteristic signs of left-side neglect in left space, extending to the central midline. Performance was relatively normal in centre-right space but all 6 patients showed signs of neglect of extreme right space (60 degrees to the right of the midline and beyond). We propose that neglect is best characterised as a bilateral, asymmetrical compression of experienced space in which the constriction extends further from the left than from the right but nevertheless affects both sides of space.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, England, UK. a.ellis@psych.york.ac.uk
authors.forename: Andrew W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Joanne L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Carol-Anne
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*