Hemispatial neglect evaluated by visual line bisection task in schizophrenic patients and their unaffected siblings

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 200; no. 2; pp. 133 - 136
• Main Authors: Ozel-Kizil, Erguvan Tugba, Baskak, Bora, Gunes, Emel, Cicek, Metehan, Atbasoglu, Esref Cem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30-12-2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; Hemispatial neglect; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Perceptual Disorders - complications; Perceptual Disorders - physiopathology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Siblings; Space Perception - physiology; Schizophrenia; Hemispatial neglect; Siblings; Human; Nervous system diseases; Spatial neglect; Neuropsychological test; Psychometrics; Sibling; Cerebral disorder; Psychosis; Vision; Central nervous system disease; Perception; Neurological disorder; Bisection task; Visual task
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.025

Abstract Visuospatial attentional asymmetry has been investigated by the line bisection task in patients with schizophrenia, however, those studies are in small number and the results are controversial. The present study aimed to investigate hemispatial neglect in patients with schizophrenia ( n =30), their healthy siblings ( n =30) and healthy individuals ( n =24) by a computerized version of the line bisection task. Deviation from the midline for both hemispaces (mean bisection error—MBE) were calculated and the effects of both hand and line length were controlled. Repeated measures ANOVA yielded a significant hemispace effect for the MBE scores, but no group or group×hemispace interaction effect, i.e., all three groups were inclined to a leftward bias in the left and a rightward bias in the right hemispace. MBEs were significantly different from “zero” only for the right hemispace in siblings and for the left hemispace in controls. Negative symptoms were significantly correlated with the bisection errors in the right hemispace. The results of the present study do not support aberrant hemispheric asymmetry, but bigger bisection errors in schizophrenia.