A meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging tasks associated with pseudoneglect

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Right-hemisphere dominance is suggested for spatial and attentional tasks, primarily from studies on patients with spatial neglect.
• The precise neuroanatomy of neglect subtypes and their relation to healthy brain functions remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the intact functional anatomy of perceptual pseudoneglect using meta-analysis.
• To compensate for limitations of individual neuroimaging studies on perceptual judgment.

Main Methods:

• Meta-analysis of 24 articles involving 952 participants.
• Data from 337 foci across various tasks (landmark, line bisection, grating-scales, number line).
• Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) used to identify consistent brain regions.

Main Results:

• A right-hemisphere biased network associated with perceptual pseudoneglect was identified.
• Key areas include superior and intraparietal regions, occipital regions (intraoccipital sulcus), and inferior frontal areas.
• Findings partially align with lesion studies in neglect patients.

Conclusions:

• This is the first meta-analysis on mechanisms of perceptual judgments linked to perceptual pseudoneglect.
• The identified network provides insights into the functional neuroanatomy of spatial perception in the healthy brain.