Vision-for-perception and vision-for-action in unilateral neglect: implications for rehabilitation

Michela Balconi, Davide Crivelli, Chiara Ferrari, Matteo Sozzi, Luigi Pisani

Risultato della ricerca: Contributo in rivistaContributo a convegnopeer review

Abstract

Introduction/Objectives: Unilateral neglect patients show difficulties in consciously processing information in the contralesional perceptual hemifield. It has been suggested that visual-processing for action or for perception involves different neural networks, a dorsal or a ventral one. While lesions in the ventral network often result in neglect, lesions in the dorsal pathway are usually not associated to that syndrome. This study aims at exploring specific dissociations between vision-for-action and vision-for-perception in such patients by using eye-movement measures. Participants, Materials/Methods: Three patients showing left neglect were compared to 10 matched controls in two gap-bisection tasks. During the perceptual task, participants were asked to evaluate the distance between two endpoints and to indicate the midpoint of the gap. During the virtual-motion task, participants were asked to imagine grasping an object between two endpoints and to indicate the midpoint of the gap. The gaps varied in length. Results: Eye-fixation indexes have been analyzed and statistically compared. During the perceptual task, patients showed a right-side bias in visual behaviour, in particular for longer gaps. During the virtual-motion task, instead, we have not found evidences for a similar bias: the clinical and control groups differed only in fixations count as a function of the gap length without specific effects for right/left hemifields. Conclusions: Evidences of a task-related effect on visual behaviour suggest interesting hints for rehabilitation of spatial exploration: vision-for-action may be preserved in neglect patients. Moreover, fixation data seem to be sensitive indexes for the assessment and may be used to increase patients’ deficit awareness.
Lingua originaleEnglish
pagine (da-a)421-421
Numero di pagine1
RivistaNeurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
Volume26
Stato di pubblicazionePubblicato - 2011
Evento1st European NeuroRehabilitation Congress - Merano
Durata: 20 ott 201122 ott 2011

Keywords

  • Unilateral spatial neglect
  • Visual exploration

Fingerprint

Entra nei temi di ricerca di 'Vision-for-perception and vision-for-action in unilateral neglect: implications for rehabilitation'. Insieme formano una fingerprint unica.

Cita questo