Preserved Insight in an Artist with Extrapersonal Spatial Neglect

Abstract

Several reports of cases of experienced artists showing neglect after a brain lesion can be gleaned from the literature. The analysis of their drawings might provide better insight into the symptoms of neglect than that of non-artists's production. However, most of these reports are anedoctal. We describe in some detail the case of neglect of a distinguished artist, the internationally known Federico Fellini (FF), whom we followed-up for two months after his right parietal stroke. The neuropsychological profile of his neglect syndrome was characterized by left visuo-motor neglect which persisted for two months. At onset, FF also showed indications of neglect dyslexia as well as some evidence of implicit processing of the neglected parts of visual stimuli. However, there was no sign of personal and representational neglect, and FF was well aware of his motor and attentional deficits. FF's neglect was characterised by several dissociations, of which the lack of functional carryover despite intact conceptual and semantic insight is the most relevant.