To investigate spatial responses by aphasic patients during language tasks, 63 aphasics (21 severe, 21 moderate, and 21 mild) were administered two kinds of auditory pointing tasks-word tasks and sentence tasks-in which the spatial conditions of the stimuli were controlled. There were significantly fewer correct responses on the right side of a space than on the left side in both the word and sentence tasks, but the left deviation of correct responses was more prominent in the sentence task than in the word task. Additionally, the severe aphasics exhibited a prominent leftward deviation that may have been the result of deficits in rightward attention controlled by the left hemisphere. This phenomenon also seems to reflect the directional attention that is subserved by the right hemisphere, which attends to the left side of a space and, less predominantly, the right side of a space.
Keywords: Aphasic patients; Directional attention; Language task; Left brain damage; Leftward deviation; Mild aphasia; Moderate aphasia; Right unilateral spatial neglect; Severe aphasia.
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