Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University , Aarhus , Denmark.
Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London , London , UK.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2014 Jun 11;8:413. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00413. eCollection 2014.
Unilateral visuo-spatial neglect is a neuropsychological syndrome commonly resulting from right hemisphere stroke at the temporo-parietal junction of the infero-posterior parietal cortex. Neglect is characterized by reduced awareness of stimuli presented on patients' contralesional side of space. Inspired by evidence of increased spatial exploration of patients' left side achieved during keyboard scale-playing, the current study employed a music intervention that involved making sequential goal-directed actions in the neglected part of space, in order to determine whether this would bring about clinically significant improvement in chronic neglect. Two left neglect patients completed an intervention comprising four weekly 30-min music intervention sessions involving playing scales and familiar melodies on chime bars from right to left. Two cancellation tests [Mesulam shape, Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT) star], the neglect subtest from the computerized TAP (Test of Attentional Performance) battery, and the line bisection test were administered three times during a preliminary baseline phase, before and after the four intervention sessions during the intervention phase to investigate short-term effects, and 1 week after the last intervention session to investigate whether any changes in performance would persist. Both patients demonstrated significant short-term and longer-lasting improvements on the Mesulam shape cancellation test. One patient also showed longer-lasting effects on the BIT star cancellation test and scored in the normal range 1 week after the intervention. These findings provide preliminary evidence that active music-making with a horizontally aligned instrument may help neglect patients attend more to their affected side.
单侧视空间忽略是一种常见的神经心理学综合征，通常由颞顶联合区（下顶后皮质的后下部）的右侧半球中风引起。忽略症的特点是患者对其对侧空间呈现的刺激的意识减少。受患者在键盘 Scale-playing 期间对左侧空间进行更多空间探索的证据启发，本研究采用了一种音乐干预措施，涉及在被忽略的空间部分进行连续的有目标的动作，以确定这是否会给慢性忽略带来临床显著的改善。两名左侧忽略症患者完成了一项包括四个每周 30 分钟的音乐干预课程的干预措施，其中涉及从右到左在钟琴棒上演奏音阶和熟悉的旋律。在初步基线阶段进行了三次测试，包括 Mesulam 形状测试[1]、行为疏忽测试（BIT）星号测试[2]、TAP（注意力表现测试）计算机化测试的忽略子测试[3]和直线二分测试[4]，以调查短期效果；在干预阶段四次干预课程之后，以及在最后一次干预课程后一周，进行测试以调查是否会持续产生任何变化。两名患者在 Mesulam 形状取消测试中均表现出显著的短期和更持久的改善。一名患者在 BIT 星号取消测试中也表现出更持久的效果，并且在干预后一周内得分正常。这些发现初步证明，使用水平对齐的乐器进行积极的音乐创作可能有助于忽略症患者更关注他们受影响的一侧。
