What is neglect and where are the lesions that produce it?
Neglect, compared to agnosias, is a lack of attention to events and actions in one part of one’s personal and extrapersonal space.
Hemineglect is the term used to describe neglect of one-half of one’s space, usually on the left in right handers.
This inattention to stimuli from that space can involve all modalities, as well as motor acts and motivation.
The posterior parietal cortex is believed to be critical for spatial attention in that it integrates distributed spatial information across all sensory modalities.
Although neglect is classically attributed to right parietal lesions, it can be seen with damage to many other cortical and subcortical areas.
The most profound neglect is seen with right parietal lesions, followed by left frontal and then left parietal lesions.
