FALSE RECOVERY FROM AUDITORY HEMINEGLECT PRODUCED BY SOURCE MISATTRIBUTION OF AUDITORY-STIMULI (THE VENTRILOQUIST EFFECT)

Right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) patients with contralesional neglect in the visual modality (n = 8) were found to differ from normal controls (n = 8), and also from RHD patients without visual neglect (n = 7), i n their ability to identify auditory stimuli delivered through a louds peaker on the left side. When the same stimuli on the left were admini stered in the presence of a fictitious source of sound (a dummy loudsp eaker) visible in the homolesional space, a significant increase in th e identification score was obtained (the 'ventriloquist effect'). The result is in keeping with a notion of a strong coupling between audito ry and visual systems. It is attributed to the activation by the ficti tious stimulus of the audio-visual map in the left hemisphere. We draw attention to the possibility that the symptomatic relief associated w ith the above effect could be translated into certain clinical gains o ver time.