Previous studies have shown that the manipulation of body position in space can modulate the manifestations of visual neglect. Here we investigated in right brain damaged patients (RBD) the possible influence of gravitational inputs on the capability to detect tactile stimuli delivered to hands positioned in ipsilesional or contralesional space. RBD patients (with or without impairments in detecting contralesional stimuli under single and double stimulation conditions) and healthy control subjects were tested in a tactile detection task in which gravitational (upright vs. supine) and hand position (anatomical vs. crossed) variables were orthogonally varied. The postural manipulation of the entire body turned out to influence the degree of tactile detection. In particular, RBD patients with tactile deficits detected a significantly higher number of left-sided stimuli in supine than upright posture. Moreover, crossing the hands improved the ability of RBD patients with tactile deficits in detecting stimuli delivered to their left contralesional hand. The beneficial effect of lying supine was independent from the spatial position of the hands, thus suggesting that the improvement of performance dependent upon entire-body posture and that dependent upon hands crossing may rely upon separate mechanisms

Gravitational influences on reference frames for mapping somatic stimuli in brain-damaged patients / A. PERU; V. MORO; L. SATTIBALDI; JS MORGANT; S. AGLIOTI. - In: EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH. - ISSN 0014-4819. - STAMPA. - 169:(2006), pp. 145-152. [10.1007/s00221-005-0132-9]

Gravitational influences on reference frames for mapping somatic stimuli in brain-damaged patients.

PERU, ANDREA;
2006

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the manipulation of body position in space can modulate the manifestations of visual neglect. Here we investigated in right brain damaged patients (RBD) the possible influence of gravitational inputs on the capability to detect tactile stimuli delivered to hands positioned in ipsilesional or contralesional space. RBD patients (with or without impairments in detecting contralesional stimuli under single and double stimulation conditions) and healthy control subjects were tested in a tactile detection task in which gravitational (upright vs. supine) and hand position (anatomical vs. crossed) variables were orthogonally varied. The postural manipulation of the entire body turned out to influence the degree of tactile detection. In particular, RBD patients with tactile deficits detected a significantly higher number of left-sided stimuli in supine than upright posture. Moreover, crossing the hands improved the ability of RBD patients with tactile deficits in detecting stimuli delivered to their left contralesional hand. The beneficial effect of lying supine was independent from the spatial position of the hands, thus suggesting that the improvement of performance dependent upon entire-body posture and that dependent upon hands crossing may rely upon separate mechanisms
2006
169
145
152
A. PERU; V. MORO; L. SATTIBALDI; JS MORGANT; S. AGLIOTI
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
EBR 2006.pdf

Accesso chiuso

Tipologia: Versione finale referata (Postprint, Accepted manuscript)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati
Dimensione 248.34 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
248.34 kB Adobe PDF   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/219814
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 14
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 13
social impact