Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection
Published on: March 10, 2021
Consecutive versus return motor perseveration during line cancellation task in hemispatial neglect
Eun-Joo Kim1, Byung Hwa Lee, Key Chung Park
1Department of Neurology, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Busan, Korea.
Background:
Patients with neglect often repeatedly cancel the same targets, a form of motor perseveration (MP). There seems to be 2 types of MP, making uninterrupted multiple strokes for each target, consecutive MP (CMP) or return MP (RMP) where patients return to previously canceled targets and remark them.
Objective:
The purpose of this study is to learn whether these 2 forms of MP are dissociable.
Methods:
We studied 3 patients, 1 with primarily CMP, another with primarily RMP and a third with mixed CMP and RMP by having them perform the cancellation task with and without background movement.
Results:
In the patient with primarily RMPs (patient 1), leftward background movement decreased the severity of the neglect and the perseveration. Rightward background movement increased both. In contrast to patient 1, who showed the correspondence between the severity of neglect and perseveration, the patient with both CMP and RMP (patient 2) and the patient with primarily CMPs (patient 3) did not show such correspondence.
Conclusions:
The different responses of CMP and RMP to the treatment of neglect suggest that different mechanisms account for these 2 forms of MP. Although RMP might be related to neglect induced aberrant approach behaviors, CMP seems to be related to a disengagement disorder.
Insights
Two forms of motor perseveration (MP) in neglect patients, consecutive MP (CMP) and return MP (RMP), show distinct responses to visual stimuli, suggesting different underlying neurological mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Neurology
Background:
- Patients with neglect exhibit motor perseveration (MP), characterized by repetitive cancellation of targets.
- Two types of MP exist: consecutive MP (CMP) and return MP (RMP), differing in target re-engagement patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the two forms of motor perseveration (CMP and RMP) are neurologically dissociable.
- To explore the distinct mechanisms underlying CMP and RMP in patients with neglect.
Main Methods:
- Studied three patients with varying presentations of CMP and RMP (primarily CMP, primarily RMP, mixed).
- Assessed cancellation task performance with and without background visual movement (leftward and rightward).
Main Results:
- Leftward background movement reduced neglect and RMP severity in a patient with primarily RMP.
- Rightward background movement exacerbated neglect and RMP severity in the same patient.
- Patients with CMP (primarily or mixed) did not show a consistent correspondence between neglect severity and perseveration, unlike the RMP patient.
Conclusions:
- Distinct responses of CMP and RMP to visual stimuli suggest different underlying mechanisms.
- RMP may be linked to aberrant approach behaviors in neglect, while CMP might relate to a disengagement deficit.
