TY - JOUR
T1 - Unilateral Spatial Neglect in Degenerative Brain Pathology
AU - Silveri, Maria Caterina
AU - Ciccarelli, Nicoletta
AU - Cappa, Antonella
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Objective: In an attempt to interpret neglect as a disconnection syndrome, it is currently proposed that
the disorder results from disorganization of large-scale networks involved in attentional spatial processes
rather than of individual brain areas. We hypothesize that as degenerative brain diseases are “system
pathologies,” degeneration could be restricted to some of the neural subsystems implicated in the
functional organization of spatial attention and different neglect syndromes could emerge depending on
the patterns of the subsystems involved. Method: We studied five neglect patients: one with corticobasal
degeneration (CBD), three with Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) and one with frontotemporal dementia
(FTD). Results: The patient with CBD and left parietoccipital atrophy showed right allocentric neglect;
the three patients with PCA mostly distributed in the right posterior regions showed left egocentric
extrapersonal neglect; the patient with FTD, who displayed more severe frontotemporal atrophy on the
right, had left motor-executive neglect for both personal and extrapersonal space. All patients also
presented a deep breakdown of spatial working memory. Conclusion: Our data would confirm that left
neglect is more frequent than right neglect also in degenerative pathology and that damage to different
neural substrates can produce different types of neglect. Our findings are also consistent with the
hypothesis that both lateralized and nonlateralized attention disorders contribute to generate the syndrome.
We suggest that evidence from degenerative diseases may contribute to construction of models
of spatial attention.
AB - Objective: In an attempt to interpret neglect as a disconnection syndrome, it is currently proposed that
the disorder results from disorganization of large-scale networks involved in attentional spatial processes
rather than of individual brain areas. We hypothesize that as degenerative brain diseases are “system
pathologies,” degeneration could be restricted to some of the neural subsystems implicated in the
functional organization of spatial attention and different neglect syndromes could emerge depending on
the patterns of the subsystems involved. Method: We studied five neglect patients: one with corticobasal
degeneration (CBD), three with Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) and one with frontotemporal dementia
(FTD). Results: The patient with CBD and left parietoccipital atrophy showed right allocentric neglect;
the three patients with PCA mostly distributed in the right posterior regions showed left egocentric
extrapersonal neglect; the patient with FTD, who displayed more severe frontotemporal atrophy on the
right, had left motor-executive neglect for both personal and extrapersonal space. All patients also
presented a deep breakdown of spatial working memory. Conclusion: Our data would confirm that left
neglect is more frequent than right neglect also in degenerative pathology and that damage to different
neural substrates can produce different types of neglect. Our findings are also consistent with the
hypothesis that both lateralized and nonlateralized attention disorders contribute to generate the syndrome.
We suggest that evidence from degenerative diseases may contribute to construction of models
of spatial attention.
KW - Degenerative Brain Diseases
KW - Disconnection Syndromes
KW - Spatial Working Memory
KW - Unilateral Spatial Neglect
KW - Degenerative Brain Diseases
KW - Disconnection Syndromes
KW - Spatial Working Memory
KW - Unilateral Spatial Neglect
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/12243
M3 - Article
SN - 0894-4105
VL - 2011
SP - 554
EP - 566
JO - Neuropsychology
JF - Neuropsychology
ER -