Impaired Spatial Working Memory Contributes to Visuospatial Neglect Severity

Visuospatial neglect (VSN) has been associated with impaired spatial working memory (SWM), but support for the relationship is limited. In this study, 70 stroke patients and 30 healthy controls performed a computerized shape cancellation (SC) task and a non-lateral (vertical) SWM task. We compared performances between patients with and without VSN (VSN+ and VSN-), and healthy control participants. We calculated correlations between SWM and the omission difference on the SC task, used to indicate VSN severity. Furthermore, VSN is associated with perseverative search behaviour. We calculated correlations between SWM and the number of ipsilesional, and total non-consecutive perseverations on the SC task, as perseverations could be an expression of impaired SWM. Higher SWM threshold scores were found for VSN+ patients compared to VSN- patients, indicating a relationship between impaired SWM and VSN. However, individual performances overlapped. A strong positive correlation was found between impaired SWM and VSN severity. Moderate positive correlations were found between impaired SWM and the number of ipsilesional, and total non-consecutive perseverations in the VSN+ and stroke group, respectively. To conclude, impaired SWM was strongly related to VSN, and patients with more severe VSN showed even more impaired SWM. Impaired SWM was expressed by a greater number of (ipsilesional) non-consecutive perseverations. Our results suggest that impaired SWM contributes to VSN severity