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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection
Published on: March 10, 2021
[Unilateral spatial neglect in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]
Chun-ming Jiang1, Fang Shen, Guang-qian Li
1Department of Pediatric Neurology, Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325027, China.
Insights
Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibit more significant left spatial neglect than typically developing peers. This suggests a shared neurophysiological basis between spatial bias and ADHD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Context:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder.
- Unilateral spatial neglect is a deficit in attention to one side of space.
- The relationship between ADHD and spatial neglect in children requires further investigation.
Purpose:
- To investigate the presence of unilateral spatial neglect in boys with ADHD.
- To determine if spatial neglect is associated with ADHD in children.
- To explore potential common neurophysiological mechanisms.
Summary:
- Boys diagnosed with ADHD and a control group of healthy boys were assessed using spatial attention tests (Line Bisection and Star Cancellation).
- Results indicated that boys with ADHD showed significantly greater left spatial neglect compared to the control group.
- Both groups exhibited rightward bias in spatial attention, but ADHD was linked to more pronounced left-sided deficits.
Impact:
- Left spatial neglect appears to be a common phenomenon in school-aged boys.
- Children with ADHD demonstrate a more pronounced form of left spatial neglect.
- Findings suggest a potential shared neurophysiological mechanism underlying spatial bias and ADHD.
Objective:
To detect unilateral spatial neglect phenomenon in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to test the hypothesis that the phenomenon is associated with ADHD.
Methods:
Thirty two boys met with ADHD diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV(TM) (ADHD group) and the 32 healthy boys without ADHD as control group participated in this study. All the participants received the flowing managements. The spatially sensitive tools of the Line Bisection test and the Star Cancellation test and some general measures (non-spatial) were used to evaluate spatial attention.
Results:
(1) The score of Line Bisection test of boys with ADHD was (-9.37 +/- 6.57), and that of the control group was (-5.46 +/- 4.69), the difference between two groups was significant (t = -2.735, P < 0.01); the difference in left side score of the Star Cancellation test was statistically significant (t = -3.78, P < 0.01) in the ADHD group versus the control group (11.44 +/- 5.55 vs. 16.34 +/- 4.82), and the left side score was also lower than the right side one (17.13 +/- 6.36), the difference was significant (t = -3.09, P < 0.01). (2) Both groups' scores of the Line Bisection test were biased to the right side of "0" value respectively (ADHD group: t = -8.064, P < 0.01; control group: t = -6.585, P < 0.01), each side of which was lower versus "expected value" "27/27" on right side (ADHD group: t = -8.78, P < 0.01; control group: t = -7.39, P < 0.01) and left side (ADHD group: t = 15.85, P < 0.01; control group: t = -12.52, P < 0.01).
Conclusions:
The results suggest that left spatial neglect may be a common general phenomenon of school age boys. Compared with normal children, children with ADHD may have obvious left spatial neglect, which suggest that there be a common neurophysiologic mechanism between left spatial bias and ADHD.
