Recovery from hemineglect: Differential neurobiological effects of optokinetic stimulation and alertness training

A Systematic Research Review Assessing the Effectiveness of Pursuit Interventions in Spatial Neglect Following Stroke

“…As suggested by Thimm et al (2009) using pursuit eye movements as a rehabilitation intervention in patients with neglect may be able to help to re-wire the stroke damaged brain in a way that allows for compensatory strategies to be employed through the recruitment of other brain areas when making pursuit eye movements. Indeed, a study by Baumann and colleagues (2007) also revealed a significant decrease in BOLD activity (and eye movement performance) in the frontal eye fields, the intraparietal sulcus and the cuneus in patients with cerebellar lesions.…”

“…One paper included in this review which did investigate neural activity, reported increased bilateral activity in three brain areas following OKS intervention, as well as increased activity in areas of the left hemisphere (Thimm et al, 2009). This pattern of activity can be placed in the context of top down and bottom up neural processing networks for pursuit and saccadic eye movements respectively, a distinction which has been demonstrated in studies using fMRI brain scans (Petit & Haxby, 1999).…”

“…Using fMRI, Thimm et al (2009) reported that reductions in severity of neglect symptoms after OKS was associated with increased activity (bilaterally) in the precuneus and the middle frontal gyrus during a spatial attention task. They also reported increased neural activity in several areas of the left hemisphere, specifically the occipital cortex, middle temporal gyrus, cingulate gyrus and the angular gyrus.…”

“…Based on its methodological quality this study was given a PEDro score of 5. Another longitudinal study involved 14 sessions of OKS for 45 minutes (total 630 minutes) over a three week period (Thimm et al, 2009). This study used seven different outcome measures and reported that OKS led to improvements in performance on at least one of the neglect assessment tests compared to baseline scores.…”

Heminegligencia visuo-espacial: aspectos clínicos, teóricos y tratamiento [Visuospatial neglect: clinical, theoretical and treatment aspects]

“…En esta técnica, se le solicita al paciente que mire los estímulos objetivo sobre un fondo en movimiento, consiguiendo, de esta forma, captar la atención del paciente hacia el lado contralesional (Na et al, 1998). Varios estudios han demostrado que la OKS repetitiva, junto con el seguimiento de los movimientos oculares al lado contralesional, induce a una recuperación (Schröder, Wis, y Hömberg, 2008;Thimm et al, 2009). …”