Spatial hemineglect in humans

The paper reviews the main findings of studies of hemispatial neglect after acquired brain lesions in people. The behavioral consequences of experimen tally induced lesions in animals and electrophysiological studies, which sh ed light on the nature of the disorder, are briefly considered. Neglect is behaviorally defined as a deficit in processing or responding to sensory st imuli in the contralateral hemispace, a part of the own body, the part of a n imagined scene, or may include the failure to act with the contralesional limbs despite intact motor functions. Neglect in humans is frequently enco untered after right parieto-temporal lesions and leads to a multicomponent syndrome of sensory, motor and representational deficits. Relevant findings relating to neglect, extinction and unawareness are reviewed and include t he following topics: etiological and anatomical basis, recovery; allocentri c, egocentric, object-centered and representational neglect; motor neglect and directional hypokinesia; elementary sensorimotor and associated disorde rs subdivisions of space and frames of reference; extinction versus neglect ; covert processing of information; unawareness of deficits; human and anim al models; effects of sensory stimulation and rehabilitation techniques. (C ) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.