Current issues in spatial neglect : An editorial introduction

Abstract

The “neglect syndrome” has become an established clinical entity in that it features prominently in all current texts of behavioural neurology and cognitive neuropsychology (see, for example, Heilman, Watson, & Valenstein, 1993; McCarthy & Warrington, 1990). At least three books have been devoted almost exclusively to the condition (Jeannerod, 1987; Robertson & Marshall, 1993; Weinstein & Friedman, 1977) and with good reason. There are very substantial numbers of neurological patients who after unilateral brain damage appear to live in a world that is spatially-skewed away from the side contralateral to the lesion, or (the distinction may be important) skewed toward the ipsilesional side (De Renzi, Gentilini, Faglioni, & Barbieri, 1989). Although the acute signs may remit spontaneously, many patients continue to ignore or “neglect” contralesional stimuli for months or years post-lesion. Their failure to “report, respond, or orient to” (Heilman et al., 1993) information in locations further from the side of lesion often has devastating consequences for daily living and return to work. In (frequent) conjunction with unawareness of the spatial deficit (anosognosia), unilateral neglect is a serious impediment to functional rehabilitation after stroke, and other causes of brain damage (Gialanella & Mattioli, 1992).