Neglect Flashcards
What is the most common cause of neglect?
A stroke affecting the right-side of the brain
Area shown to be most associated is parietal lobe on right
How do you test for neglect?
Line bisection - mark the midpoint of a line
Patients draw midpoint further to right and ignored left half of page - won’t think of turning their head to the left as concept just doesn’t exist to them
Do people recover from neglect?
Neglect usually recovers spontaneously within a few weeks or months
In a task where there were two houses presented, one normal and one on fire on the left, what was found when pts were asked which house they would rather live in?
Said houses looked the same but more often than not would chose the one not on fire… this suggest unconscious processing can influence action and decision making
How does neglect affect mental representations?
Ask patient to draw from memory - information often missing from memory so will e.g. remember a flower as just having petals on the right side
If asked to recall familiar square, only reported buildings on right, if turned around then only reported other half of buildings
When does extinction (a mild form of neglect) occur?
Also include findings from Rees et al (2000) study
When two or more objects are presented at the same time
Patients correctly reported 58/60 stimuli presented in left visual field when presented alone
But only identified 2/60 when presented along with stimuli in right visual field
What happens when people with neglect are asked to look for two targets in a task?
They will often miss the second target when both targets are presented in the same task
