Comorbidities of visual spatial attention deficits in acquired brain lesion: the case of reading and working memory

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Sa'ari, Nurul Salikin (2020). Comorbidities of visual spatial attention deficits in acquired brain lesion: the case of reading and working memory. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Visual spatial neglect (VSN), a disordered to attentional processing, is a common neuropsychological syndrome following brain injury. Presence of VSN adversely affects recovery. The interplay of spatial and non-spatial attentional components in the syndrome has been a matter of debate. The current thesis examined the comorbidities of cognitive deficits and VSN. The working assumption is that attention ‘acts’ upon other cognitive processes, therefore the error pattern of comorbid deficits should reflect the impaired attentional components. Two cognitive comorbidities were examined: reading and working memory (WM). The relations between Reading/WM and VSN were assessed using three different methodologies: meta-analyses of the literature; analyses of two large databases of stroke patients; and experimental case studies testing the impact of saliency on spatial bias symptoms. The results suggest that patients who suffer from VSN are more likely to experience problems in reading and WM. Surprisingly, the spatial biases of VSN did not affect errors in reading or WM. Regression analyses showed non-spatial components of attention explained the comorbidity deficits better than spatial component. The experimental chapters showed that non-spatial saliency cues exasperate the spatial bias symptoms. Taken together the current thesis provide evidence supporting a non-spatial attention deficit as a core symptom of VSN.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):