Productive symptoms in right brain damage

The purpose of this review is to summarize the more recent studies on productive symptoms from the neuropsychological, neurophysiological and anatomical points of view. The integration of these aspects may provide some clarifications on the cognitive impairments underpinning the main productive disorders, also contributing to better understand the normal functioning of the brain.

Productive symptoms are closely associated to spatial neglect and are distinguished in relation to the part of space they manifest. The investigation of perseveration in extrapersonal space with different manipulations helps to understand the neuropathological mechanisms underlying this symptom. Anosognosia for hemiplegia and somatoparaphrenia may be considered as disorders of body representation (personal space). Recently it has been proposed that these disorders may be ascribed to an impairment of different levels of motor control. The identification of the anatomical correlates of these two disorders contributes to better understanding of their the cognitive nature.

Productive behaviours have diverse clinical manifestations and may be induced by different mechanisms. Lesional studies are beginning to provide evidence for specific anatomical correlates of these disorders. Further investigations are needed to better understand to what extent productive symptoms can be disentagled from spatial neglect. These attempts may contribute to clarifying the role of the right hemisphere in monitoring spatial cognition.