Attentional resources in unilateral spatial neglect

Abstract

Attention is often considered a limited resource that we need to spend wisely, and accordingly resource regulation may play an important role in some attention pathologies. Unilateral spatial neglect is commonly considered a spatial attention disorder, but recent research emphasizes that also non-spatial mechanisms may be affected in this syndrome. The thesis investigates spatial and non-spatial components of attention in neglect and specifically examines patients’ ability to allocate cognitive resources to a task. Eye-tracking measures and pupillary responses during multiple object tracking, as well as binocular rivalry alternation rates, were obtained in right hemisphere stroke patients with neglect, and in right hemisphere stroke patients without neglect and healthy control participants for comparisons. The present findings suggest neglect may involve not only the classic symptoms of spatial inattention, but also general problems with allocation of attentional resources. Knowledge of how our attention systems work, the components and mechanisms involved, and how these may interact, is imperative as it may allow targeted treatment of specific mechanisms in attention disorders.