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Near and far space neglect: task sensitivity and anatomical substrates

Aimola, Lina; Schindler, Igor; Simone, Anna Maria; Venneri, Annalena

Authors

Lina Aimola

Anna Maria Simone

Annalena Venneri



Abstract

Most group studies which have investigated neglect for near and far space have found an increased severity of symptoms in far space compared to near space. However, the majority of these studies used relatively small samples and based their findings almost exclusively on line bisection performance.The aim of the present study was, therefore, to explore the occurrence of neglect for near and far space in a larger group of unselected right brain damaged patients and to evaluate whether neglect specific to near and far space is a task-related deficit or generalises across distance irrespective of task. In addition, a lesion overlap analysis was carried out to identify critical lesion sites associated with distance specific neglect deficits.Thirty-eight right hemisphere damaged patients carried out a line bisection and a cancellation task by using a pen in near space (40cm) and a laser pointer in far space (320cm).The results showed that both the number of left-sided omissions and rightward bisection errors were significantly increased in near compared to far space. Distance specific dissociations, albeit less common, were more frequently observed for cancellation than line bisection.These results suggest that space representation in neglect is more severely impaired in near than in far space. In addition, distance related dissociations in neglect may depend on task demands. Although the anatomical findings were broadly consistent with a dorsal and ventral stream dichotomy for near and far space processing, they also suggest the involvement of intermediate structures in distance related neglect phenomena.

Citation

Aimola, L., Schindler, I., Simone, A. M., & Venneri, A. (2012). Near and far space neglect: task sensitivity and anatomical substrates. Neuropsychologia, 50(6), 1115-1123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.01.022

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 18, 2012
Online Publication Date Jan 25, 2012
Publication Date 2012-05
Print ISSN 0028-3932
Electronic ISSN 1873-3514
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 50
Issue 6
Pages 1115-1123
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.01.022
Keywords Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience; Behavioral Neuroscience
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/409728
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393212000486?via%3Dihub