Completion in visuo-spatial neglect: a case study.

We present examples of copying and spontaneous drawing from a patient (P.B.) with hemianopia and severe neglect.

Anxiety and errors of prospective memory among elderly people.

Understanding the relationship between age and prospective memory may be increased by studying the distribution and constituents of incorrect responses. Failure to perform the right activity at the right time may manifest itself as an 'error of omission', in which no response is made at the critical moment, or an 'error of commission', in which the intended action is replaced by a related one. These may, in turn, result from breakdown of encoding/storage or from retrieval failure.

Figural perception and parsing in visuo-spatial neglect.

We investigated copying of simple contours by a patient with left neglect after right hemisphere lesion. The stimuli were rectangles or circles with one or two internal boundaries defined by a black-white or a two-colour contrast. On each trial, the patient attempted to copy the contour of one of the (prespecified) sub-figures defined by a boundary contrast.

Focal and global attention modulate the expression of visuo-spatial neglect: a case study.

We report a case of severe left visuo-spatial neglect consequent upon right-hemisphere stroke. In Experiment 1, we show that while the patient bisects lines significantly to the right of true centre, he is extremely accurate in placing a mark at the centre of an equivalent outlined square. Experiment 2 confirms that the lateral and radial accuracy obtained in the latter (square) task cannot be predicted from the lateral and radial displacements found in horizontal and vertical (radial) line bisection; the experiment also shows that the individual horizontal lines of a square can be bisected significantly more accurately than the same lines presented individually.

Measurement in neurologic rehabilitation.

The increasing emphasis on evaluating outcomes has led to the development of standardized health status measures. Before using one it is vital to check its suitability for the intended purpose. Will the measure detect the change or difference expected? Other more specific measures should be considered.

The bisection of horizontal and radial lines: a case study of normal controls and ten patients with left visuospatial neglect.

Two experiments are reported on the bisection of horizontal and radial lines. In experiment 1, eighteen normal controls performed both tasks. In the horizontal orientation, approximately half the subjects produced transections displaced to the left of center and in half they were displaced to the right of center.

Homing in on neglect: a case study of visual search.

We report three studies of visual search in a patient with left neglect after a right parietal infarct. Manipulations whereby the patient's attention is explicitly drawn to the spatial extent of the page on which the stimuli for cancellation are displayed have little or no effect on the number of targets cancelled. The results are consistent with a "zoom lens" model of attentional deployment.

Diminution and enhancement of visuo-spatial neglect with sequential trials.

We report three cases of visuo-spatial neglect after unilateral right hemisphere damage. Each patient undertook 100 sequential trials of line bisection. All patients were grossly impaired, placing their transections of the longer lines significantly to the right of true centre.

Is stroke rehabilitation worthwhile?

Rehabilitation is an educational problem-solving process that focuses on disability and aims to minimize the patient's disability and distress and the stress on family members. There is established evidence that rehabilitation helps individual patients, and now there is good evidence that applying rehabilitation policies generally improves outcome in groups of patients. Moreover, well-organized specialist rehabilitation is efficient because total resources are reduced.

When two is one: a case study of spatial parsing in visual neglect.

In 'left' neglect--a frequent consequence of damage to posterior areas of the right cerebral hemisphere--the relational term 'left' immediately raises the question 'left of what?'. It is shown that on a simple copying task the answer can be 'left of the principal axis of the object or objects depicted'. Under conditions in which the stimulus material was intrinsically controlled for lateral extent and position, 'object-centred' neglect seemed to reflect some basic principles of perceptual parsing.

Measurement in neurological rehabilitation.

The measurement of impairment and disability can improve patient care and is now essential in clinical audit. Practical, useful measures are slowly being developed, both for use in specific diseases and for more general use. This review discusses both new measures and new work on more well-established measures.

Causes and management of dysphasia.

Dysphasia comprises a wide-ranging complex of linguistic impairments. Comprehensive and individual description of the verbal and non-verbal aspects is required for the tailoring of an approach to therapy and management.

Left on the right: allochiria in a case of left visuo-spatial neglect.

A patient with left visuo-spatial neglect after right fronto-parietal haemorrhage failed to cross out stimuli in left space on cancellation tests. Her bisections of horizontal lines were displaced significantly to the right of true centre. On drawing and copying tasks, she sometimes omitted features on the left (neglect) and sometimes transposed them to right space (allochiria).

Physiotherapy intervention late after stroke and mobility.

Objective: To determine whether the intervention of a physiotherapist improved mobility in patients seen more than one year after stroke.

Design: Randomised crossover trial comparing two groups offered intervention by a physiotherapist, one immediately after entry into the trial and the other after a delay of three months. The intervention consisted of identifying problems and offering advice and help to solve the problems.

Crossed aphasia in a dextral without "minor" hemisphere signs.

A case of severe aphasia after right hemisphere stroke, confirmed by CT, in an unambiguously dextral patient is reported. The patient showed no limb apraxia, and performed well on a test of "closure" (Mooney faces). Extensive testing revealed no signs of visuo-spatial neglect.

Factors affecting the clinical measurement of visuo-spatial neglect.

The present study examined a battery of tests to evaluate unilateral spatial neglect; the tests included different tasks involving several modalities of spatial exploration mapping perceptual, motor, attentional and personal or extrapersonal space dimensions. The subjects, 121 right-brain-damaged patients with unilateral neglect, were studied in seven laboratories in four European countries. Relationships among the various tests were examined by correlations, a cluster analysis and by an analysis of individual cases.

Evaluating outcome in stroke rehabilitation (quality control and clinical audit).

Audit may require information on case-mix, the resources available, the processes undertaken and the outcome. The most important are the first and last. Measures of case-mix relate to severity and prognosis.

Spatial compression in visual neglect: a case study.

In the standard account of left neglect, some manner of attentional boundary is postulated such that elements to the left of that boundary are cognitively neglected. We propose an alternative model in which space is distorted ('compressed') in neglect. A new task is devised whereby the subject must follow 'in imagination' the direction of an arrowhead across 'empty' space to its corresponding position in a numerical target array.

The Rivermead Mobility Index: a further development of the Rivermead Motor Assessment.

This paper reports on a development of the Rivermead Motor Assessment Gross Function scale, the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), a new measure of mobility disability which concentrates on body mobility. An early development included a second scale concentrating on elective mobility, but the results showed this to be unreliable. The RMI comprises a series of 14 questions and one direct observation, and covers a range of activities from turning over in bed to running.

Recovery and regression in visuo-spatial neglect: a case study of learning in line bisection.

We report a case study of (partial) recovery from left visuo-spatial neglect, followed by progressive deterioration. The patient, A.L.

Hemispheric activation vs spatio-motor cueing in visual neglect: a case study.

We report a case of mild visuo-spatial neglect consequent upon right-hemisphere stroke. At the time of testing, the patient had a complete left visual field deficit but only a very slight left hemiparesis. Under conventional testing conditions, line bisection performed with the right hand showed more severe left neglect than when performed with the left hand.

Figural modulation of visuo-spatial neglect: a case study.

We report a case of severe left visuo-spatial neglect consequent upon right-hemisphere stroke. In Experiment 1, horizontal and vertical (radial) line bisection is performed; the patient displays left neglect and "altitudinal" (radial) neglect, placing his transections too far to the right and to the top, respectively. In Experiment 2, the patient is required to place a dot at the centre of squares and circles, the horizontal and vertical extents of which are identical to the length of the lines employed in Experiment 1.

Residual mobility problems after stroke.

At final follow-up 2-7 years after their first stroke, 328 survivors from the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project register were assessed for mobility disability. Patients were classified as being either mobile or immobile, according to defined criteria. Of the 190 immobile patients, only 60 could be entered into a trial of physiotherapy.