[Neurobiology of neglect: implications for new therapeutic strategies]

Neglect is characterised by a clinically relevant impairment of spatial perception and awareness observed after focal brain damage. The neglect-specific deficit in responding to contralesional stimuli in various sensory modalities is most commonly explained by impairments of spatial attention, spatial working memory, impaired spatial reference frames and lateralised movement initiation. Many neglect interventions have been developed in the last decades to alleviate symptoms of neglect in stroke patients. However, hardly any of these methods has been proven to significantly ameliorate the patient's deficits in everyday activities. Thus, the identification of predictors for recovery of function and of the success of rehabilitative measures provides a major challenge for future research on neglect.