Tactual-kinesthetic matching of horizontal extents by the long-term blind: Absence or reversal of normal left-side underestimation

doi:10.1016/0028-3932(86)90058-8

Neuropsychologia

Volume 24, Issue 2, 1986, Pages 261-264

https://doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(86)90058-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

Ten adults, who were blind from infancy or childhood, laterally slid a horizontal rod within a short length of pipe located at the body midline, until the rod extremities were tactually-kinesthetically judged to be equidistant from the ends of the pipe. Whereas sighted subjects normally set the left extremity of the rod closer to the midline than the right irrespective of arm posture, crossed or uncrossed, blind subjects, especially those blind from birth showed trends in the opposite direction. The role of vision is discussed with respect to the development and expression of asymmetries relating to the coding of extracorporeal space.

References (28)

D. Bowers et al.
Pseudoneglect: effects of hemispace on a tactile line bisection task
Neuropsychologia
(1980)
J.L. Bradshaw et al.
Head and body space to left and right, front and rear—II: Visuotactual and kinesthetic studies and left-side underestimation
Neuropsychologia
(1983)
J.L. Bradshaw et al.
Braile reading and left and right hemispace
Neuropsychologia
(1982)
V. Fromkin et al.
The development of language in Genie: a case of language acquisition beyond the “critical period”
Brain Lang.
(1974)
L.J. Harris
Which hand is the “eye” of the blind? A new look at an old question
B. Hermelin et al.
Functional asymmetry in the reading of Braille
Neuropsychologia
(1971)
A. Karavatos et al.
Hemispheric specialization for language in the congenitally blind: The influence of the Braille system
Neuropsychologia
(1984)
S. Larsen et al.
Absence of ear asymmetry in blind children on a dichotic listening task compared to sighted controls
Brain Lang.
(1983)
W.I. McKeever
Evidence against the hypothesis of right hemisphere dominance in the American Navajo
Neuropsychologia
(1981)
W.F. McKeever et al.
Failure to replicate the Scott et al. finding of reversed ear dominance in native American Navajo
Neuropsychologia
(1984)

S. Millar

Is there a best hand for Braille?

Cortex

(1984)

J.M. Pierson et al.

Head and body space to left and right, front and rear—I: Unidirectional competitive auditory stimulation

Neuropsychologia

(1983)

P. Ross

Cerebral specialization in deaf individuals

A. Tzavaras et al.

Literacy and hemispheric specialization for language: digit dichotic listening in illiterates

Neuropsychologia

(1981)

Cited by (17)

Orienting of visual attention in aging
2016, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Citation Excerpt :
Some traction on this issue may be gained from studies testing age differences in the phenomenon of pseudoneglect (Bowers and Heilman, 1980). Pseudoneglect refers to the slight but systematic perceptual or visual judgment bias favoring the left visual field in healthy adults (Bradshaw et al., 1986; Brooks et al., 2014; McCourt et al., 2001; Voyer et al., 2012). This bias is attributed to RH dominance for visuospatial attention processing (Benwell et al., 2014; Cai et al., 2013; Cavézian et al., 2012; Çiçek et al., 2009; Fierro et al., 2001; Fink et al., 2001; Thiebaut de Schotten et al., 2011; Waberski et al., 2008).
Changes in attention are among the most important cognitive shifts associated with aging, with implications for maintenance of vocational competencies, participation in social interactions, and successful execution of activities of daily living. An important facet of attention is orienting, the ability to selectively attend a location or modality and thereby engender perceptual augmentation. Orienting also involves shifting of the focus of attention in response to unanticipated salient events. Aging may impact orienting through a variety of neurocognitive mechanisms and the interactions between them. We review findings regarding factors that mediate the impact of aging on orienting, including overt vs. covert attending, exogenous vs. endogenous processes, orienting benefits vs. reorienting costs, cue-target onset asynchrony (SOA), post-orienting task factors, and stage of aging. We also consider aging-related changes in the brain substrates of orienting, including cortical and white matter integrity, laterality, connectivity, neuromodulatory functions, and compensatory activity. Taken together, these findings suggest that healthy aging impacts performance on orienting tasks less through direct effects than via interactions with additional cognitive processes.
Near Misses and the Effect of Attentional Asymmetries on Sporting Performance
2016, Laterality in Sports: Theories and Applications
Our ability to attend to the environment is not symmetrical. Rather, our attention in space is characterized by two biases, one operating in the horizontal plane, which draws attention leftward, and the other operating in the vertical plane, which draws attention upward. These biases are readily observed in controlled laboratory settings and also impact everyday activities. They also have pronounced effects on the way athletes perform in a variety of sports. This chapter first reviews the literature on asymmetries in spatial attention and its neurological basis before reviewing literature which shows the way these biases affect the performance of athletes in sports including golf, Australian rules football, soccer, baseball, and archery.
Abnormal line bisection judgements in children with Tourette's syndrome
2002, Neuropsychologia
Tourette's syndrome (TS) has been associated with loss of normal basal ganglia asymmetry, as well as loss of normal functional asymmetry, including the leftward bias on traditional visuospatial tasks such as line bisection and turning bias tests. The aim of the present study was to examine the lateralisation of visuospatial attention in TS. We examined the effect of an irrelevant moving-dot background on line bisection judgements. Nine children with a DSM IV diagnosis of TS participated, in addition to 9 healthy controls, individually matched for age, sex and IQ. Horizontal lines of varying length were presented on a computer screen with either a blank background, or a moving, random-dot field. The dots moved either leftward or rightward across the screen at 40 or 80 mm/s, and participants were instructed to ignore these distracting stimuli when judging the lines. TS children were found to be abnormally right-biased in line bisection in a similar fashion to unmedicated ADHD children who, in a previous study, showed a similar small, yet significant, right-bias in line bisection. Matched controls showed a small, nonsignificant left bias, consistent with past research. Unlike previous findings with hemineglect patients, the irrelevant moving background had no effect on bisection performance for TS children or healthy controls. The present findings suggest a deficit in visuospatial attention consistent with the emerging picture of a lateralised dysfunction of frontostriatal circuitry in TS.
Motor and perceptual factors in pseudoneglect
1999, Neuropsychologia
An important variant of the traditional line bisection task has involved a mechanical device invented by Bisiach and his colleagues (Bisiach et al. Perceptual and premotor factors of unilateral neglect. Neurology 1990;40:1278–81 [3]). This tool was devised to dissociate motor from perceptual factors in hemi-spatial neglect, by means of a mid-line indicator which moved congruently or non-congruently with the direction of hand movement. In the non-congruent condition, Bisiach was able to demonstrate a reduction, or reversal, of the direction of bisection error in a number of patients with neglect. These errors were interpreted as instances of motor neglect. Bisiach et al. [3]also tested 10 normal subjects, who did not differ on the two conditions of the task. However, the original experiment [3]required the use of the right hand only, and it has since become clear that bisection errors in normal subjects (i.e. pseudoneglect) are more substantial when dextral subjects use their left hands. By using a modified version of the Bisiach Tool we show that there is an effect of the motor versus perceptual condition on this task, but only when subjects use their non-dominant (left) hand.
Tactile rod bisection: Hemispheric activation and sex differences
1996, Neuropsychologia
Blindfolded subjects estimated with either hand the center of rods positioned in either left or right hemispace. In one condition, they also performed a concurrent verbal task. Bias and variability of bisection settings were the dependent variables. Bisections performed in left hemispace were biased to the left of true center, more so when the left hand was used. In contrast, bisections performed in right hemispace were biased rightward, more so when the right hand was used. There were no significant differences in variability of bisections in any condition. Interactions of hand with hemispace in which the task was performed differed for the two sexes. Moreover, the secondary verbal task had no effect on either measure. We conclude that of several factors that may underlie bisection biases, attention was the most relevant.
Pseudoneglect and reversed pseudoneglect among left-handers and right-handers
1992, Neuropsychologia
Two experiments were carried out to examine specific hand contribution to pseudoneglect and reversed pseudoneglect phenomena in dextrals and sinistrals when bisection tasks were conducted exclusively in the midline spatial condition. Both dextrals and sinistrals showed the same overall pattern deviation: in the tactile scanning task, both right and left hands deviated to the left of the midpoint and in the kinesthetic scanning tasks, the right hand deviated to the left and the left hand to the right of the midpoint. However, when these deviations were tested against zero (i.e. the objective midpoint) clear differences appeared related to hand, task and handedness. These results were discussed with respect to “enhancement theory”.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Article preview

Neuropsychologia

Abstract

References (28)

Pseudoneglect: effects of hemispace on a tactile line bisection task

Neuropsychologia

Head and body space to left and right, front and rear—II: Visuotactual and kinesthetic studies and left-side underestimation

Neuropsychologia

Braile reading and left and right hemispace

Neuropsychologia

The development of language in Genie: a case of language acquisition beyond the “critical period”

Brain Lang.

Which hand is the “eye” of the blind? A new look at an old question

Functional asymmetry in the reading of Braille

Neuropsychologia

Hemispheric specialization for language in the congenitally blind: The influence of the Braille system

Neuropsychologia

Absence of ear asymmetry in blind children on a dichotic listening task compared to sighted controls

Brain Lang.

Evidence against the hypothesis of right hemisphere dominance in the American Navajo

Neuropsychologia

Failure to replicate the Scott et al. finding of reversed ear dominance in native American Navajo

Neuropsychologia

Is there a best hand for Braille?

Cortex

Head and body space to left and right, front and rear—I: Unidirectional competitive auditory stimulation

Neuropsychologia

Cerebral specialization in deaf individuals

Literacy and hemispheric specialization for language: digit dichotic listening in illiterates

Neuropsychologia

Cited by (17)

Orienting of visual attention in aging

Near Misses and the Effect of Attentional Asymmetries on Sporting Performance

Abnormal line bisection judgements in children with Tourette's syndrome

Motor and perceptual factors in pseudoneglect

Tactile rod bisection: Hemispheric activation and sex differences

Pseudoneglect and reversed pseudoneglect among left-handers and right-handers

NoteTactual-kinesthetic matching of horizontal extents by the long-term blind: Absence or reversal of normal left-side underestimation

Abstract

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Brain Lang.

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Brain Lang.

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Cortex

Neuropsychologia

Neuropsychologia

Note
Tactual-kinesthetic matching of horizontal extents by the long-term blind: Absence or reversal of normal left-side underestimation