Lateralized spatial biases after brain damage are commonly assessed
using batteries of paper-and-pencil tests. These tests hardly allow
quantification of performance in different locations in space, and they
tend to lose sensitivity along the course of recovery. We tested the
dynamic Starry Night Test (SNT), a novel computerized test measuring
reaction time and detection accuracy for visual target stimuli in a
dynamic background, in 32 inpatients with right hemisphere stroke (RHS),
16 patients with left hemisphere stroke (LHS), and 9 healthy controls. As
a group, only the RHS patients were significantly slower to respond to
contralesional targets. Individually, 21 (66%) RHS patients and 5 (31%)
LHS patients showed statistically significant contralateral deficits. In a
number of RHS patients the SNT was more sensitive to the ipsilesional bias
of spatial attention than the Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT), a
standardized paper-and-pencil test battery of unilateral spatial neglect.
Two illustrative case reports show that the dynamic SNT, but not the BIT,
was sensitive to the spatial deficit in recovered patients, one of whom
was involved in repeated car accidents. The SNT overcomes serious
shortcomings of paper-and-pencil tests of unilateral neglect. It provides
a simple quantitative tool for monitoring the natural and
treatment-induced recovery of patients. (JINS, 2005, 11,
697–707.)Part of the data was
presented in abstract form at the EBBS EuroConference on Cognitive and
Neural Bases of Spatial Neglect, September 14–17, 2000, Como,
Italy.