PSYCH 120A Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Francis Galton, Hemispatial Neglect, Parietal Lobe
Document Summary
Impairment to the contralesional (opposite) side of space. Most often associated with the damage to the right parietal lobe. Right parietal damage leads to neglect of the left side of space. Seen in copying of pictures and in spontaneous drawing. Attention is biased towards the ipsilesional side. Processing of contralesional side of space is unconscious. When given two houses, one with a fire on one side, they can"t tell the difference between the two images, they were still unconsciously aware that the fire existed. Picked the house without the fire 9/11 times. Impairments also apparent at multiple frames of reference. Patients can neglect the left side of the object rather than the left side of space. Had subjects use introspection to study mental imagery. Self reports suggest they could inspect mental images as picture. A kind of mental representation sharing certain properties with picture. Mental imagery may involve any of the sensory modalities. Emotionally charged memories come back very vividly.
