Left ipsilesional neglect for visual imagery: a mental image generation impairment?
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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection
Published on: March 10, 2021
Gianna Cocchini1, Angela Bartolo, Paolo Nichelli
1Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, London, UK. g.cocchini@gold.ac.uk
Abstract:
In this article, we describe a patient, CN, with unilateral left posterior brain damage, who shows a rare occurrence of left ipsilesional neglect limited to mental representations. CN's clinical pattern is consistent with the hypothesis that different mechanisms underlie perceptual and representational neglect. We also discuss an interpretation of representational neglect based on the different involvement of the two hemispheres in visual imagery processes. In particular, left brain lesions do not present the typical strong contralesional bias and may lead to an impairment of mental generation of either side of the image, depending on pre-morbid and methodological factors.
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