ABSTRACT
Watson et al. (1978) and Mesulam (1981) suggested that unilateral neglect could be divided into perceptual and premotor types. Empirical support for this distinction has been sought through investigation of animals and brain-damaged patients. The main difficulty facing this research programme lies in the absence of any precise division between input-and output-related components within the complex of neural states and events underlying space representation. However, recent data appear to provide unambiguous support for a relative differentiation. An intriguing aspect of the problem, which is still under investigation, is whether “perceptual” and “premotor” types of neglect are rigid or may revert into one another under experimental manipulation. It is hoped that the results of current research on input-and output-related components of unilateral neglect will contribute to render the structure of space representation more transparent.
