HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Smania, N. Articles by Aglioti, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Smania, N. Articles by Aglioti, S.

Sensory and spatial components of somaesthetic deficits following right brain damage

From the Servizio Recupero e Rieducazione Funzionale (Dr. Smania), Policlinico Borgo Roma; and the Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche e della Visione--Sezione Fisiologia Umana (Dr. Aglioti), Verona, Italy.
Supported in part by CNR and MURST (40%) grants.
Received November 17, 1994. Accepted in final form February 19, 1995.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Salvatore Aglioti, Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche e della Visione--Sezione di Fisiologia Umana--Universita di Verona, Strada le Grazie, 8, I-37134, Verona, Italy.

We instructed patients with right brain damage (RBD) and somatosensory extinction, hemispatial neglect, or both to verbally report light touches delivered to the left hand, to the right hand, or simultaneously to both hands in two experimental situations.In the ``anatomic'' situation, each hand was in its homonymous hemispace; in the ``crossed'' one, each hand was held across the corporeal midline, in its heteronymous hemispace. Under both single and double stimulation conditions, RBD patients detected stimuli delivered to the contralesional hand with lower accuracy in the anatomic than in the crossed position. This result suggests that somaesthetic deficits can be due not only to sensory but also to attentional factors, depending on the spatial position of the hands. Processing of sensory information in primary areas should not be influenced by the hemispatial position of the stimulated body part. These results suggest that somaesthetic deficits may stem not only from damage of primary sensory areas, as classically held, but also from damage of higher-order areas where information about stimuli, body parts, and extrapersonal space is integrated. Finally, the results show that sensory and attentional components of the deficit can be dissociated by using a very simple clinical test.

NEUROLOGY 1995;45: 1725-1730

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P Bartolomeo, R Perri, and G Gainotti The influence of limb crossing on left tactile extinction J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, January 1, 2004; 75(1): 49 - 55. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Bottini, H.-O. Karnath, G. Vallar, R. Sterzi, C. D. Frith, R. S. J. Frackowiak, and E. Paulesu Cerebral representations for egocentric space: Functional-anatomical evidence from caloric vestibular stimulation and neck vibration Brain, June 1, 2001; 124(6): 1182 - 1196. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Remy, M. Zilbovicius, J.-D. Degos, A.-C. Bachoud-Levi, G. Rancurel, P. Cesaro, and Y. Samson Somatosensory cortical activations are suppressed in patients with tactile extinction: A PET study Neurology, February 1, 1999; 52(3): 571 - 571. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]