The effect of pattern arrangement on neglect in right brain-damaged adults
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Abstract
This investigation examined whether a regular arrangement of stimulus elements in a cancellation task would reduce neglect in right brain-damaged subjects. Two types of stimulus elements, global and local, were compared to random patterns. The global design was a single pattern which included the left and right hemispace. The local design consisted of four separate, identical patterns. The random patterns consisted of loosely distributed designs without apparent pattern. The nine stimulus patterns, three of each type were administered to ten right brain-damaged subjects with neglect and ten controls. Two sessions were administered to subjects; the first session was three weeks post onset of stroke and the second session was nine weeks post onset. Results indicated that right brain-damaged subjects demonstrated reduced neglect on regularly arranged patterns as compared to random patterns and that neglect was less with global patterns than with local patterns. Analys is of the differences among the global and local patterns indicated that complexity of the design , closeness of the patterns and the suggestion of closure in a pattern design may affect the benefits of pattern arrangement in reducing neglect. Results suggested that there is a decrease in neglect overtime. These results suggest that structuring the stimulus materials may be important in attenuating the effects of neglect.
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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University
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