VISUAL SCANNING PATTERNS IN AN ADULT CHINESE POPULATION - PRELIMINARYNORMATIVE DATA

Visual neglect is routinely tested using cancellation tasks. On these tests, subjects without visual neglect are expected to use a systemati c left to right search pattern and detect virtually all targets (Weint raub & Mesulam, 1985). This premise of normal scanning being systemati c and lep to right also provides the foundation for scanning retrainin g, one rehabilitation approach for neglect. However, in an increasingl y multicultural society, it behooves us to investigate cultural variat ions in normal visual scanning patterns. The purpose of this study was to begin to investigate normal visual scanning patterns in a sample o f unilingual, Mandarin-speaking adults. The study was conducted at the Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. Twenty-nine subjects complete d three cancellation tasks: the Bells Test (Gauthier, Dehaut, & Joanet te, 1989) and two from the Cancellation Test (Weintraub & Mesulam, 198 5). The results showed that fewer subjects than reported by Gauthier e t al. (1989) started their search with a left top or left middle orien tation and fewer used a systematic scanning pattern. Clinicians respon sible for testing and treating visual neglect in multicultural populat ions should be aware that more variation may be seen in performance on routine scanning tasks.