Loetscher Tobias, Brugger Peter
Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
Neuropsychologia. 2009 Jan;47(1):276-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.08.005. Epub 2008 Aug 13.
Based on interactions between number and space apparent from healthy subjects' randomization attempts we expected random number generation (RNG) to be sensitive for the monitoring of unilateral spatial deficits. Specifically, we predicted patients with left-sided hemineglect to evidence "neglect in number space", i.e. to produce a deficiency in the generation of small, "left-sided" numbers. In RNG of digits from 1 to 6, 19 patients with left-sided neglect generated sequences with a higher redundancy, but as many small numbers as did a matched control group. We discuss possible reasons for the absence of a small-number neglect and emphasize that the observed redundancy was not due to a counting bias, as known from other neurological patients, but to an unspecific imbalance in the use of response alternatives. We speculate that this may be the consequence of disrupted fronto-parietal functions normally serving in the sequential organization and manipulation of items in working memory.
基于健康受试者随机化尝试中数字与空间之间明显的相互作用，我们预期随机数生成（RNG）对单侧空间缺陷的监测具有敏感性。具体而言，我们预测左侧半侧空间忽视患者会出现“数字空间忽视”，即生成小的“左侧”数字存在缺陷。在1到6的数字随机数生成任务中，19名左侧忽视患者生成的序列冗余度更高，但与匹配的对照组生成的小数字数量相同。我们讨论了不存在小数字忽视的可能原因，并强调观察到的冗余并非像其他神经疾病患者那样是由于计数偏差，而是由于反应选项使用中的非特异性失衡。我们推测这可能是通常在工作记忆中对项目进行顺序组织和操作的额顶叶功能受损的结果。
