PRESERVED INSIGHT IN AN ARTIST WITH EXTRAPERSONAL SPATIAL NEGLECT

Several reports of cases of experienced artists showing neglect after a brain lesion can be gleaned from the literature. The analysis of the ir drawings might provide better insight into the symptoms of neglect than that of non-artists's production. However, most of these reports are anedoctal. We describe in some detail the case of neglect of a dis tinguished artist, the internationally known Federico Fellini (FF), wh om we followed-up for two months after his right parietal stroke. The neuropsychological profile of his neglect syndrome was characterized b y left visuo-motor neglect which persisted for two months. At onset, F F also showed indications of neglect dyslexia as well as some evidence of implicit processing of the neglected parts of visual stimuli. Howe ver, there was no sign of personal and representational neglect, and F F was well aware of his motor and attentional deficits. FF's neglect w as characterised by several dissociations, of which the lack of functi onal carryover despite intact conceptual and semantic insight is the m ost relevant.