Unilateral+Neglect

= = //Unilateral Neglect// //-Joey and Rachel//

Unilateral Neglect, also called hemiagnosia, hemineglect, spatial neglect, unilateral visual inattention, hemi-inattention or neglect syndrome is an aneuropsychological condition where one hemisphere of the brain ignores everything that is happening on one side of the body.
 * //What is it?//**

//**Examples of this condition:**// A study was done in which patients who had unilateral neglect were asked to copy a picture of a flower.

The patients think that they are completing an entire flower, when in reality they just draw half of it. When this is pointed out to them, the patients are extremely confused. One woman says "I swear I was drawing petals the entire way around. I only noticed what it really looked like after you pointed it out."

Another similar test was done on patients that are under the same condition. They were given a picture of a clock, and asked to copy it. The patients easily drew a complete circle, but jammed all of the numbers (1-12) onto one half of their clock without thinking.

Neglect patients do not eat from the left part of their dish, they bump with their wheelchair into obstacles situated on their left, and when questioned from the left side they may either fail to answer or respond to a right-sided bystander.

The biggest occurrence of unilateral neglect is stroke patients. The right hemisphere of the brain is damaged, and in return they ignore everything on the left side of their body.
 * How does this happen?**

Since this issue deals with brain cell loss, not much can be done. Scientists are still researching to find out what can be done. The patients seem to realize their condition when it is pointed out, but they live a daily basis ignoring the left half of their body.
 * What can help fix this problem?**

http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/11/2479.full http://brainblogger.com/2009/07/21/neglecting-unilateral-neglect/ http://changingminds.org/explanations/brain/dysfunction/unilateral_neglect.htm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7032417
 * Sources:**