Cognitive maps in imagery neglect.
Patients with imagery neglect (RI+) show peculiar difficulties in orienting themselves in the environment. Navigational impairments could be due to a deficit in creating or using a mental representation of the environment (Guariglia, Piccardi, Iaria, Nico, & Pizzamiglio, 2005) or, according to the BBB model (Burgess, Becker, King, & O'Keefe, 2001), to a specific deficit in a mechanism that transforms an allocentric representation into an egocentric one and vice versa. Previous studies, however, do not allow discerning between a deficit in forming or in using a cognitive map, taking no notice of the fact that these are two different abilities underlain by different neuroanatomical areas, which could be independently impaired. Furthermore, the BBB model has never been verified in a population of brain-damaged patients. Therefore, we administered two tasks that separately assess the ability to create and use a cognitive map of the environment to 28 right brain-damaged patients (4 patients with imagery neglect and 4 patients with perceptual neglect) and 11 healthy participants. RI+ patients showed no specific deficit in creating or using a cognitive map, but failed to transform an egocentric representation of the environment into an allocentric one and vice versa, as predicted by the BBB model.
Dipartimento di Psicologia 39, Sapienza Università di Roma, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy. liana.palermo@uniroma1.it
Liana
L
Palermo
Giulia
G
Ranieri
Federico
F
Nemmi
Cecilia
C
Guariglia
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric