CHALLENGING CURRENT ACCOUNTS OF UNILATERAL NEGLECT

Two left-neglect patients were asked (i) to bisect a 15 cm line, (ii) to bisect the empty space between the endpoints of a 15 cm virtual lin e, and (iii) to set the endpoints of a 15 cm virtual line, given its m idpoint. With one patient, the subjective midpoint of the virtual line was found to be displaced leftwards with respect to the subjective mi dpoint of the real line, whereas with the other it was found to be dis placed rightwards. However, in condition (iii) both patients significa ntly underestimated the distance from the centre of the rightmost poin t of the virtual line while relatively overestimating that from the ce ntre to the left endpoint. This latter result challenges current accou nts of unilateral neglect.