Affiliations: Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow,
Glasgow, UK | School of Psychology, University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK | Centre for Perception, Attention, and Motor Sciences,
University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, UK | Care of the Elderly, Frenchay Hospital, University of
Bristol, BS8 1PN, UK
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Monika Harvey, Department of
Psychology, 58 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK. Tel.: +44 141 330 6174;
Fax: +44 141 330 4606; E-mail: M.Harvey@ psy.gla.ac.uk
Abstract: Patients with right unilateral cerebral stroke, four of which showed
acute hemispatial neglect, and healthy aged-matched controls were tested for
their ability to grasp objects located in either right or left space at near or
far distances. Reaches were performed either in free vision or without visual
feedback from the hand or target object. It was found that the patient group
showed normal grasp kinematics with respect to maximum grip aperture, grip
orientation, and the time taken to reach the maximum grip aperture. Analysis of
hand path curvature showed that control subjects produced straighter right hand
reaches when vision was available compared to when it was not. The right
hemisphere lesioned patients, however, showed similar levels of curvature in
each of these conditions. No behavioural differences, though, could be found
between right hemisphere lesioned patients with or without hemispatial neglect
on either grasp parameters, path deviation or temporal kinematics.
