Hemispatial neglect, balint’s syndrome and attention

Abstract

Hemispatial neglect is typically caused by a brain lesion to the right cerebral cortex. Patients with neglect have difficulty paying attention to contralesional space. It is often not total and can sometimes be made more severe by the addition of stimuli to ipsilesional space. Balint’s syndrome is an attentional disorder that is thought to be related to neglect. Whereas patients with neglect have difficulty attending to stimuli that are located in a particular region of space, patients with Balint’s syndrome may be able to attend to a stimulus regardless of where it is located, providing it is isolated.