Relating unilateral neglect to the neural coding of space

Neuropsychological findings on the human neglect syndrome after parietal da mage may relate to the physiological properties of single cells that have b een studied in monkey parietal cortex and in related brain areas. Human neg lect may reflect partial loss or dysfunction of similar cell populations, p roducing a pathological gradient in the numbers of cells representing parti cular lateral positions in space, for particular functions. This can explai n the graded deficits seen in patients. We relate the patient deficits to c ellular properties for several current issues: spatial frames-of-reference; multimodal integration; effective treatments for neglect; motor components to parietal function; and residual unconscious processing. A neural perspe ctive may resolve traditional debates in the neglect literature and outline directions for future research.