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Bodily neglect and orientational biases in unilateral neglect syndrome and normal subjects

Department of Neurology (Dr. Mark), University of Maryland, and Montebello Rehabilitation Hospital, Baltimore, MD; and the Department of Neurology (Dr. Heilman), College of Medicine, University of Florida, and the Research Service, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Gainesville, FL.

Patients with neglect erred toward the right when attempting to locate the intercepta of their midsagittal planes with a horizontal Une placed in front of them. When control subjects could not see their bodies, they also pointed to the right. While control subjects improved when they were able to see their bodies, neglect subjects did not. When the horizontal line was moved toward the right, both neglect and control subjects increased their rightward pointing errors. However, patients with neglect made greater errors than did controls. When the line was in far left hemispace, controls pointed accurately to their midsagittal planes. The neglect subjects, in contrast, erred toward the left. Our results suggest that patients with neglect from right hemisphere lesions are not only inattentive to their bodies, but are also distracted by extracorporeal stimuli, especially on the right. Our results also suggest that normal subjects have a propensity to orient to or be distracted by stimuli in right hemispace.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Victor W. Mark, Department of Neurology, University of Maryland, 22 South Greene Street Baltimore MD 21201.

Presented in part at the 40th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Cincinnati, OH, April 1988.

Supported by the Medical Research Service of the Veterans Administration and the Pangborn Fund of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Received May 26, 1989. Accepted for publication in final form September 27, 1989.

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