Cognition and Action Lab

Efficacy of Treatments of Hemispatial Neglect

Laurel J. Buxbaum, PsyD, Principal Investigator

This four-year grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation focuses on developing treatments for hemispatial neglect, a common disorder after stroke affecting the right parietal lobe of the brain. Patients with neglect fail to attend to or act on objects on the left, even though their vision is frequently intact. The disorder has been attributed to:

• A problem in the internal representation of space by the brain;

  Deficits in attending to that internal representation; and

• A problem programming actions toward the neglected side.

There is evidence that there are several subtypes of neglect, including a subtype in which motor programming is affected, and another involving a damaged internal spatial representation.

Although neglect is fairly common, relatively little is known about its:

• Incidence

• Persistence

• Effect on community outcome and quality of life or

• Appropriate treatment

This large-scale project collects data from right hemisphere stroke patients at Bryn Mawr Rehab, Magee Rehabilitation Hospital and MossRehab to address these questions. A number of promising treatments, including medication and visual training, are being explored to determine which treatments are the most effective for different subtypes of neglect.