Abstract
This study quantitatively investigated directed attention of stroke patients with left unilateral spatial neglect (USN) using visual target detection. Twenty-three stroke patients with left USN and sixteen elderly control subjects participated in the experiment. Directional response time to detect visual target was measured using a personal computer system. The patients were also examined with the line bisection test. The elderly controls detected all targets and showed no directional difference in response time. On the other hand, the patients with USN showed delayed response time or failed to detect the targets presented in the left space. A significant correlation was found between the number of omissions in the affected left side of space and the percent shift of dividing point in the line bisection test. We also found a significant correlation between the ability of visual target detection and the patients' ability of locomotion. Thus, it is concluded that our new method of computerized evaluation of visual inattention is clinically useful to describe USN objectively.
