Abstract
The basic mechanism of unilateral spatial neglect is the rightward bias of spatial attention in the bodycentered reference frame. The left-side objects or the left parts of the objects, to which patients with neglect do not attend, are not treated with conscious awareness. They stop drawing when they copy the right half of a daisy, and believe the rightward point as the center when bisecting a line. Their recognition of the whole depends mainly on the attended right side or parts. The presence (e.g., the longer left extent of the bisected line) or absence (e.g., the lacking left petals of the copied daisy) on the left side does not enter the conscious processing of the outside world. Patients with neglect feel no sense of loss for the left side of space or objects, and seem to believe that they see the outside world normally. However, verbal strategies developed by the left hemisphere may modify the expression of unilateral spatial neglect.
