Reducing neglect by introducing ipsilesional global cues

Halligan and Marshall (1994) have proposed that unilateral neglect (UN) can be reduced by ipsilesional global cues which induce processing of the whole object, including contralesional features. This hypothesis has the potential to distinguish difficulties with disengaging attention after ipsilesional capture from the failure of contralesional stimuli to capture attention. To test the role of global cues, seven individuals with unilateral right-hemispheric lesions copied and verbally identified drawings adapted from Seron, Coyette, and Bruyer (1989). The level of meaningful information presented in the ipsilesional hemispace was varied across three levels: symmetrical objects, objects with an identifying left-side feature, and objects that required processing of the left-side information for plausible identification. The results support the global processing hypothesis by demonstrating that the less the ipsilesional information, the less was the neglect of contralesional information. (C) 2000 Academic Press.