THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUOSPATIAL AND REPRESENTATIONAL NEGLECT

Using a quantitative measure, we analyzed the relationship between visuospatial and representational neglect in right- and left-brain-damaged patients and found signs of representational neglect only in right-brain-damaged patients. Although representational neglect was always associated with visuospatial neglect, suggesting that the two forms share a common underlying mechanism, the most frequent finding in right-brain-damaged patients was that of visuospatial neglect in isolation. A strong influence of the phenomenon of attentional attraction toward space ipsilateral to the lesion in visuospatial, as opposed to imaginal, tasks can account for this finding.