Towards an Understanding of Neglect

A common neurological syndrome that may occur as a result of brain damage is that of unilateral neglect. Neglect is commonly associated with right hemisphere strokes, although it may also result from cerebral tumour or head injury. Using a simple form of assessment requiring the crossing through of a number of randomly scattered lines ( Albert, 1973 ), neglect has been reported present in 49% of patients with right hemisphere lesions and 25% of those with left hemisphere lesions ( Fullerton, McSherry, & Stout, 1986 ). Neglect resulting from left hemisphere lesions, although not so frequent as that resulting from right hemisphere lesions, also tends to be less severe ( Caramazza & Hillis, 1990 ; Friedrich, Walker, & Posner, 1985 ; Ogden, 1985 ; Warrington, 1991 ). The characteristic features of the syndrome are a failure either to perceive or respond to stimuli presented on the side of space contralateral to the cerebral lesion; a failure to initiate movements in the side of space contralateral to the lesion; and extinction (i.e. when both contralateral and ipsilateral stimuli are presented simultaneously, only the ipsilateral stimulus will be reported).