ABSTRACT
Impairments of attentional functions are very frequent and can be expected to occur in 80% of all brain-damaged patients (van Zomeren, Brouwer and Deelman, 1984). Impairements give rise to a specific problem per se by slowing down the patient’s reactions in everyday life, increasing irritability, and, especially after damage of the right cerebral hemisphere, by leading to a complete neglect of one intra-and/or extrapersonal lateral space. Attentional deficits may impair the efficacy of rehabilitation of other cognitive functions. Wood and Eames (1981) have pointed out that patients with severely impaired attentional functions profit least from rehabilitation programmes.
