On the right (and left) track: Twenty years of progress in studying hemispatial neglect

Abstract

In the last 20 years, several important developments have markedly expanded our understanding of the hemispatial neglect syndrome and, more broadly, of the brain's representation of objects, space, and action. This review follows seven “threads” of scientific development to evaluate some of the changes in our thinking about the mechanisms of neglect, its key characteristics, the spatial frames of reference affected, the psychophysical properties of neglect phenomena, the relationship of neglect in various sensory modalities, the role of deficits in arousal and general attention, and the critical neuroanatomic substrates of the disorder. The progress reviewed illustrates that the cognitive neuropsychology approach to the study of neglect complements insights gleaned from neurophysiological studies in the monkey, functional neuroimaging studies of attention and perception, and other investigative techniques, and thus serves as fertile ground for a convergence approach to cognitive neuroscience.

Acknowledgments

Supported by NIH-R01-NS36387 and NIDRR H133G030169.

Notes

There is actually an eighth thread, comprising investigation of treatments of neglect. Several thorough reviews of studies and progress in this area have been reported elsewhere. The interested reader is referred to Bowen, Lincoln, and Dewey (2002), Cicerone et al. (2000), and Pierce and Buxbaum (2002).