Conscious Perception in USN

Patients with right hemisphere damage often exhibit a symptom complex where contra-lesional objects and events fail to induce an appropriate behavioral reaction. The most puzzling aspect of this syndrome - termed unilateral spatial neglect (USN) - is the failure of salient left-sided stimuli to attract attention and generate conscious perception. This phenomenon, which is often multi-modal, may happen in cases where the sensory pathways and the primary cortical areas are completely intact. Following a short description of the clinical manifestations, underlying anatomy and recovery patterns of USN, I will present data gathered in a series of studies done in our hospital, which aimed to clarify the nature of processing received by stimuli on the neglected side, and the effect of some theory-motivated manipulations aimed to ameliorate the impairedprocessing