Relationship Between Closing-In and Spatial Neglect: A Case Study.

We describe a right-brain-damaged patient with extrapersonal neglect, dysexecutive deficits, and closing-in. Because no study has investigated the relationship between spatial neglect and closing-in in patients with focal brain damage, we assessed how spatial factors (drawing direction: left-to-right, right-to-left, radial) and attentional load (single versus dual task copying; the concurrent task was counting aloud) interacted in determining our patient's closing-in. We found that her closing-in was worst when she copied the stimulus (Luria's line) from left to right; greater attentional load significantly worsened her closing-in in the right-to-left direction. Closing-in seems to be caused by a pathologic release of motor behavior, analogous to other productive manifestations of extrapersonal neglect.