Search pattern in a verbally reported visual scanning test in patients showing spatial neglect.

The present study of right hemisphere stroke patients showed that presence of visuospatial neglect in conventional neglect tests at the postacute stage was strongly associated with an aberrant search pattern in a verbally reported visuo-perceptual scanning test. Compared with normal controls, patients with visuospatial neglect showed a greater proportion of repeated readings of the same target, shorter search sequences, more shifts between horizontal, vertical, and diagonal search, and lower proportion of horizontal search. The relation between spatial neglect and a deficient search pattern was strongly influenced by the asymmetric allocation of attention in the scanning test, with the exception for the proportion of repeated reading which was not influenced by this asymmetry. At follow-up, a significant recovery was noted in the neglect group for the proportion of repeated readings and for the asymmetry in the allocation of attention. However, a high number of omitted targets in the search test was still a common finding in the neglect group and it was suggested that a non-lateralized attentional deficit may have played an important role behind the ineffective search at this point of time.