Archrves o/Clmlcrrl /veuropsychology. Vol. 3, pp. 213-225. 1988 0887.6177188 13.00 + .@I Pruned I” the USA. All nghrs rescrvcd. Copyright 0 1988 Narmnal Academy of Necroprychologws Unilateral Spatial Neglect: Biases in Contralateral Search and Fine Spatial Attention Susan Egelko, Ellen Riley, Dvorah Simon, Leonard Diller, and Ora Ezrachi Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center Contralateral search and fine spatial attentional asymmetries, two aspects of hemispatial neglect, were examined in a total of 91 right brain damaged (RBD) and 40 non-aphasic left brain damaged (LBD) stroke rehabilitation inpatients. Fine spatial attentional asymmetries within a hemispace were found in both RBD and LBD patients on the LAVA figure-match test. This finding is in contrast to Gainotti’s hypothesis that such problems in extracting contralateral visual infor- mation are uniquely characteristic of RBD patients. Furthermore, the study suggests that the gross search and fine attentional aspects of neglect are dissocia- ble and may refrect different underlying mechanisms of hemispatial neglect. Unilateral spatial neglect is generally recognized to be a complex behavioral phenomenon involving the spatial distribution of directed attention, that is, a failure to orient automatically to the side of space contralateral to the lesion. Deficiencies in exploration of space, as seen in tasks involving sac- cadic eye movement to the side contralateral to that of lesion, are observed clinically and experimentally in both right (RBD) and left brain damaged (LBD) patients. However, the frequency and magnitude of the problem are reported to be greater with RBD patients (Heilman, 1983). Gainotti, D’Erme, Monteleone, and Silveri (1986) have proposed that what is unique to the condition of RBD neglecters is an inability to extract This research was supported by designation of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center, as a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center by the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (GOO8300039). Requests for reprints should be sent to Director of Training and Dissemination, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Psychology Department, New York University Medical Center, 400 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016. 213