Advanced neuropsychology: attention and Neglect

Allocentric neglect

Allocentric neglect

A type of object-based neglect where patients ignore one side of each object regardless of its position in space |

| Anosognosia

Lack of awareness of one's own deficit; in neglect, patients may be unaware of their inability to perceive or move on one side |

| Apathy

Common symptom in neglect patients characterized by lack of initiative or engagement with their environment |

Bottum-up Attention

Process where stimuli automatically draw attention, particularly strong for ipsilesional stimuli in neglect patients |

| Auditory neglect

Neglect affecting auditory perception, more frequent than typically detected in clinical practice |

| Brain plasticity

The brain's ability to reorganize and compensate for damage, relevant to recovery potential in neglect |

| Compensation training

Rehabilitation approaches teaching patients to use alternative strategies to overcome their deficits |

| Competition between stimuli

Fundamental concept where stimuli compete for attention, with ipsilesional stimuli having overwhelming advantage |

| Competition model

Understanding of neglect as resulting from imbalanced competition between hemispheres rather than simple loss of function |

| Contralesional

Referring to the side opposite to the brain lesion/damage; typically the ignored/affected side |

| Cross-modal competition

Phenomenon where different senses compete for attention |

| Double dissociation

When two different functions can be impaired independently of each other |

| Environmental adaptation

Modifying environment or teaching patients to use environmental cues as compensation |

| Extrapersonal neglect

Neglect affecting far space, beyond reaching distance |

| Far space

Area beyond reaching distance |

| Functional assessment

Evaluating how neglect affects real-world activities |

| Head-eye deviation

Physical sign where patients' heads and eyes turn toward ipsilesional side |

| Hemiplegia

Paralysis of one side of the body |

| Hemispatial neglect

Condition following brain damage where patients ignore one side of space |

| Heterogeneous syndrome

Understanding that neglect varies in manifestation among different patients |

| Hyper attraction

Extreme attraction to stimuli on ipsilesional side |

| Imagery neglect

Neglect affecting mental imagery, including dreams |

| Implementation challenges

Difficulties in translating research findings to clinical practice |

| Individual differences

Variations in how neglect presents in different patients |

| Internal representation

Mental images or maps of space and objects |

| Ipsilesional

Referring to same side as brain lesion; typically the over-attended side |

| Line bisection task

Test where patients must mark center of line; reveals spatial bias |

| Motor effectors

Different systems for movement (eyes, hands, legs) capable of directing attention |

| Motor neglect

Difficulty initiating movements toward affected side despite no paralysis |

| Near space

Area within reaching distance |

| Neural competition

How different brain areas and stimuli compete for attention resources |

| Object-based neglect

Neglect of one side of individual objects regardless of position |

| Parietal cortex

Brain area crucial for spatial attention and neglect symptoms |

| Performance threshold

Level at which patients can successfully perform tasks |

| Personal neglect

Neglect affecting body itself |

| Peripersonal neglect

Neglect affecting space within reaching distance |

| Presaccadic shift

Attention shift occurring before eye movement |

| Prism adaptation

Treatment using special glasses to shift visual field |

| Pseudo-neglect

Natural bias toward left side in healthy individuals |

| Pupillometry

Research technique measuring pupil size to index attention |

| Residual neglect

Subtle manifestations persisting after apparent recovery |

| Right hemisphere dominance

Natural tendency of right hemisphere to control attention |

| Scan training

Rehabilitation teaching active environmental scanning |

| Sacade latency

Time taken to initiate eye movement |

| Sensory neglect

Pure perceptual deficit affecting awareness of sensory information |

| Spatial neglect

Ignoring one side of space regardless of objects within it |

| Strategic eye movements

Natural use of eye movements to minimize internal memory load |

| Sustained attention

Ability to maintain attention over time |

| Superior temporal gyrus

Brain area involved in spatial working memory aspects of neglect |

| Temporal order judgment

Test examining which of two stimuli is perceived as occurring first |

| Temporal parietal junction

Brain area potentially critical for neglect |

| Visual scanning training

Most common clinical treatment teaching active orientation to contralesional field |

| White matter damage

Injury to brain's connection fibers associated with persistent neglect |