Acquired spatial dyslexia

Abstract

Acquired spatial dyslexia is a reading disorder frequently occurring after left or right posterior brain lesions. This article describes several types of spatial dyslexia with an attentional approach. After right posterior lesions, patients show left neglect dyslexia with errors on the left side of text, words, and non-words. The deficit is frequently associated with left unilateral spatial neglect. Severe left neglect dyslexia can be detected with unlimited exposure duration of words or non-words. Minor neglect dyslexia is detected with brief presentation of bilateral words, one in the left and one in the right visual field (phenomenon of contralesional extinction). Neglect dyslexia can be explained as a difficulty in orienting attention to the left side of verbal stimuli. With left posterior lesions, spatial dyslexia is also frequent but multiform. Right neglect dyslexia is frequent, but right unilateral spatial neglect is rare. Attentional dyslexia represents difficulty in selecting a stimulus, letter or word among other similar stimuli; it is a deficit of attentional selection, and the left hemisphere plays a crucial role in selection. Two other types of spatial dyslexia can be found after left posterior lesions: paradoxical ipsilesional extinction and stimulus-centred neglect dyslexia. Disconnections between left or right parietal attentional areas and the left temporal visual word form area could explain these deficits. Overall, a model of attention dissociating modulation, selection control, and selection positioning can help in understanding these reading disorders.