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Modulation of neglect hemianesthesia by transcutaneous electrical stimulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2009

Giuseppe Vallar ,
Maria Luisa Rusconi  and
Bruno Bernardini
Giuseppe Vallar
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Roma “La Sapienza,” and IRCCS Clinica S. Lucia, Roma, Italy
Maria Luisa Rusconi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Italy
Bruno Bernardini
Affiliation:
IIPPAB Istituto Geriatrico “P. Redaelli,” Milano, Italy
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Abstract

The effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation on deficits of tactile perception contralateral to a hemispheric lesion were investigated in 10 right brain-damaged patients and in four left brain-damaged patients. The somatosensory deficit recovered, transiently and in part, after stimulation of the side of the neck contralateral to the side of the lesion, in all 10 patients with lesions in the right hemisphere, both with (six cases) and without (four cases) left visuo-spatial hemineglect, and in one left brain-damaged patient with right hemineglect. In three left brain-damaged patients without hemineglect, the treatment had no detectable effects. In one right brain-damaged patient, the stimulation of the side of the neck ipsilateral to the side of the lesion temporarily worsened the somatosensory deficit. These effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation are similar to those of vestibular stimulation. The suggestion is made that these treatments modulate, through afferent sensory pathways, higher-order spatial representations of the body, which are pathologically distorted toward the side of the lesion. The modulatory effect is direction-specific: the defective internal representation of the contralesional side may be either partly restored, improving the disorder of tactile perception, or further impoverished, worsening the deficit. The possible neural basis of this modulation is discussed. (JINS, 1996, 2, 452–459.)

Keywords

Visuo-spatial hemineglectTranscutaneous electrical stimulationSomatosensory deficits
Type
Thematic Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 2 , Issue 5 , September 1996 , pp. 452 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 1996

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