How efficient is a simple copying task to diagnose spatial neglect in its chronic phase?

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2004 Apr;26(2):251-6. doi: 10.1076/jcen.26.2.251.28085.

Abstract

Twenty-five patients with spatial neglect were tested in the acute phase and about 1.3 years after a right-hemisphere stroke. Ten patients had developed chronic spatial neglect. We investigated how sensitive a simple copying task is in detecting spatial neglect in the chronic phase. When the stroke was acute, all 10 patients omitted a considerable number of contralesionally located items in the copying task. In the chronic phase, 60% of the chronic neglect patients still demonstrated noticeable neglect in the copying task. The data indicate that a simple task such as the copying of a multi-object scene is a helpful tool to detect residual symptoms of spatial neglect even more than 1 year after the stroke.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cerebrovascular Disorders / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Perceptual Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Perceptual Disorders / physiopathology
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Reproducibility of Results*
  • Space Perception*
  • Task Performance and Analysis*
  • Time Factors