Map-following skills in left and right brain-damaged patients with and without hemineglect

Abstract

Map-following tasks require a “semantic interpretation” of the map, which could be affected by left brain damage, and “superimposition of the map upon the space,” which could be compromised by right lesions and particularly by the presence of hemineglect. Participants followed a pathway depicted on a map of a real environment. The pathway included four left and four right turns. A legend explained the meaning of each symbol that appeared on the map. Our results showed no deficits in left brain-damaged patients, but poor performance in right brain-damaged patients affected by hemineglect. This deficit can be ascribed to their impaired egocentric frame of reference, but we cannot exclude a prevalent role of the right hemisphere in their use of the allocentric information on the map despite the presence of hemineglect. Indeed, three right brain-damaged patients without hemineglect showed a specific deficit in performing the task. We discuss the results in light of the possible impairment of the parietomedial temporal pathway, which supports spatial navigation and could be responsible for the patients' deficit.