EFFECTS OF LATERALIZED TASKS ON UNILATERAL NEGLECT AFTER RIGHT CEREBRAL VASCULAR ACCIDENT

This study examined whether activities designed to stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain resulted in decreased neglect in patients with right cerebral vascular accident (CVA) and unilateral neglect (UN) and, conversely, whether activities designed to stimulate the left hemisphere resulted in increased left neglect. An alternating treatment, single subject design was used with five subjects, ages 57 to 74, who demonstrated neglect on both the Schenkenberg Line Bisection Test and the behavioral subtest of the Behavioral Inattention Test. Each subject received 8 days of baseline measures (Schenkenberg Line Bisection Test) and 10 days of treatment, during which the subjects were alternately engaged in the groups of tasks intended to arouse a particular hemisphere, followed by six to eight baseline measures. Line bisection scores were taken after each treatment. The significance of change in UN after either group of activities was determined by visual inspection and semi-statistical analysis using the two standard deviation band method. The findings did not support the hypotheses. Two subjects demonstrated no significant change after either treatment phase; one subject showed a significant decrease in neglect after both phases of treatment; one subject showed a significant decrease in neglect after activities designed to stimulate the right hemisphere but no change after activities to facilitate the left hemisphere; and one subject showed a significant increase in neglect after both types of treatment. Results are discussed in terms of severity of impairment, fatigue effect, spontaneous recovery, and the adequacy of the tasks to differentially activate a single hemisphere.