Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:55:13.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Improved Accuracy on Lateralized Spatial Judgments in Healthy Aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2019

John B. Williamson*
Affiliation:
Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (151A), Malcom Randall VAMC, 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA Center for OCD and Anxiety Related Disorders, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, 1149 Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, 1225 Center Drive, Room 3151, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Aidan Murphy
Affiliation:
Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (151A), Malcom Randall VAMC, 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA Center for OCD and Anxiety Related Disorders, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, 1149 Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA
Damon G. Lamb
Affiliation:
Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (151A), Malcom Randall VAMC, 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA Center for OCD and Anxiety Related Disorders, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, 1149 Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, 1225 Center Drive, Room 3151, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Zared Schwartz
Affiliation:
Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (151A), Malcom Randall VAMC, 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA
Dana Szeles
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, HSC PO Box 100236, Gainesville, FL 32610-0236, USA
Michal Harciarek
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Ul. Jana Bażyńskiego 4, Gdansk, Poland
Aleksandra Mańkowska
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Ul. Jana Bażyńskiego 4, Gdansk, Poland
Kenneth M. Heilman
Affiliation:
Brain Rehabilitation Research Center (151A), Malcom Randall VAMC, 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, VA Medical Center (182), 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32606, USA
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: John B. Williamson, Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, 1601 S.W. Archer Road Gainesville, FL 32608, USA. Phone: (352) 376-1611 Ext. 6920. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objectives:

Healthy young adults often demonstrate a leftward spatial bias called “pseudoneglect” which often diminishes with aging. One hypothesis for this phenomenon is an age-related deterioration in right hemisphere functions (right hemi-aging). If true, then a greater rightward bias should be evident on all spatial attention tasks regardless of content. Another hypothesis is a decrease in asymmetrical hemispheric activation with age (HAROLD). If true, older participants may show reduced bias in all spatial tasks, regardless of leftward or rightward biasing of specific spatial content.

Methods:

Seventy right-handed healthy participants, 33 younger (21–40) and 37 older (60–78), were asked to bisect solid and character-letter lines as well as to perform left and right trisections of solid lines.

Results:

Both groups deviated toward the left on solid line bisections and left trisections. Both groups deviated toward the right on right trisections and character line bisections. In all tasks, the older participants were more accurate than the younger participants.

Conclusions:

The finding that older participants were more accurate than younger participants across all bisection and trisection conditions suggests a decrease in the asymmetrical hemispheric activation of these specialized networks important in the allocation of contralateral spatial attention or spatial action intention.

Type
Regular Research
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Backman, L., Laukka, E.J., Wahlin, A., Small, B.J., & Fratiglioni, L. (2002). Influences of preclinical dementia and impending death on the magnitude of age-related cognitive deficits. Psychology and Aging, 17(3), 435442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, A.M. (2005). Pseudoneglect in solid-line versus character-line bisection tasks: A test for attention dominance theory. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 18(2), 138; author reply 138–139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, A.M. & Craver-Lemley, C.E. (2008). Is it what you see, or how you say it? Spatial bias in young and aged subjects. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(4), 562570. doi:10.1017/S1355617708080764 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benwell, C.S., Thut, G., Grant, A., & Harvey, M. (2014). A rightward shift in the visuospatial attention vector with healthy aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 6, 113. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2014.00113 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bisiach, E. & Luzzatti, C. (1978). Unilateral neglect of representational space. Cortex, 14(1), 129133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowers, D. & Heilman, K.M. (1980). Pseudoneglect: Effects of hemispace on a tactile line bisection task. Neuropsychologia, 18(4–5), 491498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brain, W.R. (1941). A form of visual disorientation resulting from lesions of the right cerebral hemisphere: (Section of Neurology). Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 34(12), 771776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabeza, R. (2002). Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: The HAROLD model. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 85100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cabeza, R., Grady, C.L., Nyberg, L., McIntosh, A.R., Tulving, E., Kapur, , Jennings, J.M., Houle, S., & Craik, F.I. (1997). Age-related differences in neural activity during memory encoding and retrieval: A positron emission tomography study. The Journal of Neuroscience, 17(1), 391400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, D.J., Christou, E.A., Ring, S.A., Williamson, J. B., & Doty, L. (2014). Enhanced somatosensory feedback reduces prefrontal cortical activity during walking in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 69(11), 14221428. doi:10.1093/gerona/glu125 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corbetta, M., Kincade, M. J., Lewis, C., Snyder, A. Z., & Sapir, A. (2005). Neural basis and recovery of spatial attention deficits in spatial neglect. Nature Neuroscience, 8(11), 16031610. doi:10.1038/nn1574 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Failla, C.V., Sheppard, D.M., & Bradshaw, J.L. (2003). Age and responding-hand related changes in performance of neurologically normal subjects on the line-bisection and chimeric-faces tasks. Brain and Cognition, 52(3), 353363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, M.F., Folstein, S.E., & McHugh, P.R. (1975). “Mini-mental state.” A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12(3), 189198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedrich, T.E., Hunter, P.V., & Elias, L.J. (2018). The trajectory of Pseudoneglect in adults: A systematic review. Neuropsychology Review, 4, 436452. doi: 10.1007/s11065-018-9392-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukatsu, R., Fujii, T., Kimura, I., Saso, S., & Kogure, K. (1990). Effects of hand and spatial conditions on visual line bisection. The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, 161(4), 329333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Furlan, M., Marchal, G., Viader, F., Derlon, J.M., & Baron, J.C. (1996). Spontaneous neurological recovery after stroke and the fate of the ischemic penumbra. Annals of Neurology, 40(2), 216226. doi:10.1002/ana.410400213 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garavan, H., Ross, T.J., & Stein, E.A. (1999). Right hemispheric dominance of inhibitory control: An event-related functional MRI study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96(14), 83018306. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.14.8301 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottesman, R.F., Kleinman, J.T., Davis, C., Heidler-Gary, J., Newhart, M., Kannan, V., & Hillis, A.E. (2008). Unilateral neglect is more severe and common in older patients with right hemispheric stroke. Neurology, 71(18), 14391444. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000327888.48230.d2 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grady, C.L. (2002). Age-related differences in face processing: A meta-analysis of three functional neuroimaging experiments. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56(3), 208220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grady, C.L., Maisog, J.M., Horwitz, B., Ungerleider, L.G., Mentis, M.J., Salerno, , Pietrini, P., Wagner, E., & Haxby, J.V. (1994). Age-related changes in cortical blood flow activation during visual processing of faces and location. The Journal of Neuroscience, 14(3 Pt 2), 14501462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guariglia, C., Palermo, L., Piccardi, L., Iaria, G., & Incoccia, C. (2013). Neglecting the left side of a city square but not the left side of its clock: Prevalence and characteristics of representational neglect. PLoS One, 8(7), e67390. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067390 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilman, K.M. & Van Den Abell, T. (1980). Right hemisphere dominance for attention: the mechanism underlying hemispheric asymmetries of inattention (neglect). Neurology, 30(3), 327330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilman, K.M. & Watson, R.T. (1977). Mechanisms underlying the unilateral neglect syndrome. Advances in Neurology, 18, 93106.Google ScholarPubMed
Hicks, R.E., Bradshaw, G.J., & Kinsbourne, M. (1978). Vocal-manual trade-offs in hemispheric sharing of human performance control. Journal of Motor Behavior, 10(1), 16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jewell, G. & McCourt, M.E. (2000). Pseudoneglect: A review and meta-analysis of performance factors in line bisection tasks. Neuropsychologia, 38(1), 93110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, B.H., Kang, S.J., Park, J.M., Son, Y., Lee, K.H., Adair, J.C., Heilman, K.M., & Na, D.L. (2004). The Character-line Bisection Task: A new test for hemispatial neglect. Neuropsychologia, 42(12), 17151724. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.02.015 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, B.H., Kim, M., Kang, S.J., Park, K.C., Kim, E.J., Adair, J.C., & Na, D.L. (2004). Pseudoneglect in solid-line versus character-line bisection tasks: A test for attention dominance theory. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 17(3), 174178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Logan, G.D. & Delheimer, J.A. (2001). Parallel memory retrieval in dual-task situations: II. Episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27(3), 668685.Google ScholarPubMed
Nielson, K.A., Langenecker, S.A., & Garavan, H. (2002). Differences in the functional neuroanatomy of inhibitory control across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 5671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pardo, J.V., Fox, P.T., & Raichle, M.E. (1991). Localization of a human system for sustained attention by positron emission tomography. Nature, 349(6304), 6164. doi:10.1038/349061a0 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petit, L., Zago, L., Mellet, E., Jobard, G., Crivello, F., Joliot, M., Mazoyer, B & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2015). Strong rightward lateralization of the dorsal attentional network in left-handers with right sighting-eye: An evolutionary advantage. Human Brain Mapping, 36(3), 11511164. doi:10.1002/hbm.22693 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petit, L., Zago, L., Vigneau, M., Andersson, F., Crivello, F., Mazoyer, B., Mellet, E., & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2009). Functional asymmetries revealed in visually guided saccades: An FMRI study. Journal of Neurophysiology, 102(5), 29943003. doi:10.1152/jn.00280.2009 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Powers, R.M., Roth, H.L., & Heilman, K.M. (2005). The effects of focal and global attentional systems on spatial biases. Brain and Cognition, 58(3), 318323. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2005.03.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reuter-Lorenz, P.A., Jonides, J., Smith, E.E., Hartley, A., Miller, A., Marshuetz, C., & Koeppe, R.A. (2000). Age differences in the frontal lateralization of verbal and spatial working memory revealed by PET. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12(1), 174187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shulman, G.L., Pope, D.L., Astafiev, S.V., McAvoy, M.P., Snyder, A.Z., & Corbetta, M. (2010). Right hemisphere dominance during spatial selective attention and target detection occurs outside the dorsal frontoparietal network. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(10), 36403651. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4085-09.2010 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sobrinho, K.R.F., Santini, A.C.M., Marques, C.L.S., Gabriel, M.G., Neto, E.M., de Souza, L., Bazan, R., & Luvizutto, G. J. (2018). Impact of unilateral spatial neglect on chronic patient’s post-stroke quality of life. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 15. doi:10.1080/08990220.2018.1521791 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stam, C.J. & Bakker, M. (1990). The prevalence of neglect: Superiority of neuropsychological over clinical methods of estimation. Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, 92(3), 229235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stebbins, G.T., Carrillo, M.C., Dorfman, J., Dirksen, C., Desmond, J.E., Turner, D.A., Martin, M., Hennig, J., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2002). Aging effects on memory encoding in the frontal lobes. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 4455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ten Brink, A.F., Verwer, J.H., Biesbroek, J.M., Visser-Meily, J.M.A., & Nijboer, T.C.W. (2017). Differences between left- and right-sided neglect revisited: A large cohort study across multiple domains. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 39(7), 707723. doi:10.1080/13803395.2016.1262333 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Umarova, R.M., Nitschke, K., Kaller, C.P., Kloppel, S., Beume, L., Mader, I., Bennet, R., Wilson, R.S., Glover, G., & Weiller, C. (2016). Predictors and signatures of recovery from neglect in acute stroke. Annals of Neurology, 79(4), 673686. doi:10.1002/ana.24614 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Varnava, A., Dervinis, M., & Chambers, C.D. (2013). The predictive nature of pseudoneglect for visual neglect: Evidence from parietal theta burst stimulation. PLoS One, 8(6), e65851. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065851 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Varney, N.R. & Benton, A.L. (1975). Tactile perception of direction in relation to handedness and familial handedness. Neuropsychologia, 13(4), 449454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, R.T., Andriola, M., & Heilman, K.M. (1977). The electroencephalogram in neglect. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 34(3), 343348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yi, Y.G., Kim, D.Y., Shim, W.H., Oh, J.Y., Kim, H.S., & Jung, M. (2019). Perilesional and homotopic area activation during proverb comprehension after stroke. Brain and Behavior, 9(1), e01202. doi:10.1002/brb3.1202 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zivotofsky, A.Z. (2004). Choosing sides: Lateralization in line trisection and quadrisection as a function of reading direction and handedness. Brain Research. Cognitive Brain Research, 20(2), 206211. doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.03.001 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zivotofsky, A.Z., Edelman, S., Green, T., Fostick, L., & Strous, R.D. (2007). Hemisphere asymmetry in schizophrenia as revealed through line bisection, line trisection, and letter cancellation. Brain Research, 1142, 7079. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2007.01.046 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed