Simulating unilateral neglect in normals: Myth or reality?

Issue title: Plasticity in Spatial Neglect – Recovery and Rehabilitation

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Michel, Carine

Affiliations: INSERM ERIT-M 207, Université de Bourgogne, BP 27877, F-21078 Dijon, France. Tel.: +33 0 3 80 39 90 06; Fax: +33 0 3 80 39 67 02; E-mail: carine.michel@u-bourgogne.fr

Abstract: Hemispatial neglect is a neurological deficit of perception, attention, representation, and/or performing actions within the left-sided space. The condition also produces many functional debilitating effects on everyday life, and is associated with poor functional recovery and inability to benefit from treatment. Numerous methods of rehabilitation (sensory stimulations or active training) have been proposed to alleviate neglect condition. It has been recently shown that visuo-manual adaptation to rightward optical shift leads to profound and enduring improvements of neglect symptoms. Based on the different methods commonly used in the rehabilitation of neglect, several techniques have been employed to simulate neglect symptoms in healthy subjects with a view to better understand the physiopathology of neglect. The present paper reviews studies of neglect-like behaviour in healthy individuals and in particular the use of prism adaptation as a procedure for simulating various symptoms of clinical neglect in normals. Neglect-like symptoms following prism adaptation offer insights as to the mechanisms of spatial neglect and provide an understanding of the interaction between low level sensorimotor processes and spatial cognition. Implications for the functional mechanisms and the anatomical substrates of prism adaptation are discussed in terms of inter-sensory plasticity and sensorimotor coordination and the way these may affect higher-level representations of space.

Keywords: Simulation of neglect, healthy subjects, prism adaptation, space representation, plasticity

Journal: Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, vol. 24, no. 4-6, pp. 419-430, 2006