Does Motor Attention Enhance Perception in Hemispatial Neglect?

Hemispatial neglect is a disabling post stroke disorder that affects spatial attention and severely limits functional recovery. This work evaluates the feasibility of using an augmented reality (AR) serious game to quantitatively assess and modulate spatial exploration in patients with hemispatial neglect. The game progressively introduces increasing motor demands to investigate whether active movement can influence and potentially enhance contralesional exploration. The experimental cohort consisted of one post stroke individual and two neurotypical controls. Results from this pilot implementation showed that active motor involvement promoted broader exploration of the contralesional hemispace, particularly the far-left region typically underused after right-hemisphere stroke, while maintaining high task engagement. In the post stroke participant, the observed increase in depth and far-left coverage suggests that voluntary movement can transiently expand contralesional spatial exploration. These findings support the hypothesis that perception–action coupling within interactive AR environments can help engage attentional networks that are less recruited during non-motor tasks. This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that motor engagement within an AR-based, game-like environment can sensitively capture spatial asymmetries and reveal condition-dependent variations in contralesional engagement, motivating the future development of AR paradigms that leverage perception–action coupling both for quantitative assessment and as a potential approach to enhance spatial attention in stroke rehabilitation.

Author dc:creator

• Teresa Puzzi (24399392)

• Health Sciences
• Rehabilitation and Therapy

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32993816.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32993816