Hemineglect is a condition caused by strokes or brain damage in which part of the sensory inputs to the brain are ignored and it is as if that part ...BehavioralResearchBlog-Humanbehaviorresearch-NeuroscienceHemineglect-andhowtostudyrecoveryfromitPostedbyAndrewSpinkonMon06May.2019-3minutereadThelategreatOliverSackswasoneofthe20thcentury'sbestscientificcommunicators.Hewroteanamazingseriesofbooksaboutbraindiseasesandhowtheyhelpustounderstandhowahealthybrainfunctions.Oneofhisbest-knowbookswas'TheManWhoMistookhisWifeforaHat';andoneofthecase-studieshepresentstherewasawomanwhocouldnotperceiveonehalfoftheworld.Shehadwhatiscalledhemispatialneglect,orhemineglect.Hemineglect-andhowtostudyrecoveryfromitThepatienthadhadastrokewhichhaddamagedpartofherrightbrain,which,duetotheanatomyofthebrain,meantthatitignoredsignalscomingfromtheleftside.Amazingly,itwasn'tlikewearinganeye-patchwhereyouknowthatsomethingisonyourleftside,butyoujustcan'tseeit.Itwasmoreasifthatsideoftheworlddidn'texist. Sosheonlyputonmake-upononesideofherfaceandsheonlybrushedherhaironthatside.Itisnotjusttodowithprocessingsensoryinputs,buttheprocessingofattentionforinputscomingfromthatside;theyaresimplyignored.Otherstudieshaveshownthatitworksjustthesameforthingsrememberedorimagined.Patientswereaskedtoimaginetheywereinalargepublicsquare,whichtheyknewwell,anddescribewhattheysaw.Theycouldonlydescribethingsononesideofthesquare.Forexample,iftheyimaginedwerestandingtheSouthside,theycouldonlysaywhatshopswereontheEastside,totheirright),butiftheythenimaginedthemselvesstandingontheoppositesidetheythencouldonlydescribethingsontheotherside(forexample,theWestside,whenimaginingstandingontheNorth).RecoveryfromhemineglectHemispatialneglectisnotalwaysassevereasthat.Italldependsonwhichpartsofthebrainhavebeenaffectedbystroke(orinjury)andhowseriously.Theabovedescriptionisbasedondamagetospecificpartsoftheparietallobe,whichhasanumberofimportantfunctionsincludingprocessingsensoryinputsandregulatingawarenessandattention.Recoveryisalsopossib