Effects of verbalization on deficits of general attention in patients with unilateral spatial neglect

概要

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Unilateral spatial neglect is the failure to attend to and explore stimuli presented in the space contralateral to the brain lesion. Persisting unilateral spatial neglect disturbs the daily activities of patients, and it often reduces effectiveness of motor rehabilitation. Although neglect is basically a deficit of spatial attention, its strong linkage with deficits of general attention is suggested. If general attention training, such as verbalization, can modulate neglect performance, this may provide another approach for neglect rehabilitation. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine effects of verbalization on tasks requiring general attention. In Experiment 1, test adequacy was examined in 35 neglect patients and 12 normal controls. Copying of models that include a basic element in a sequence fit for our purpose. In Experiment 2, effect of verbalization was examined in five neglect patients and the 12 controls. The results showed that (1) all patients were unaware of the number of basic elements appeared in each model, and (2) they succeeded in copying when requested to count the number, but never used this strategy voluntarily. Effect of verbalization was obvious, but generalization of this effective strategy to daily activities seemed to be the problem.
神戸大学の論文
2002-12-20