Left visuo-spatial neglect can be worse in far than in near space

We tested five patients with marked left-sided visuo-spatial neglect and two control subjects on a test of line bisection. A series of horizontal lines was presented to each subject, who had to indicate the centre with a projection light-pen. All five patients misplaced the centre to the right, in accordance with their left-sided neglect. However, in all five the angular displacement was greater for lines well beyond reach, than for lines of identical angular size within reaching distance. This result, precisely because it is opposite to that of a previous report, supports the conclusion that there are separate dissociated neural systems concerned with the perception of, and response to, stimuli in near and far space.