Representational neglect and working memory

Patient JLA was examined to gain insights on the correlation between representational neglect (RN) and working memory with reference to the retrieval of information from visual-spatial and geographical memory, respectively. JLA had suffered rigth-sided fronto-temporo-parietal injury due to infarction. He showed left-sided RN in one direction of a vantage point, but not in the other. In an imagery task, containing only a few objects, the patient showed no RN. In contrast, in a similar task with more objects RN was found for the affected side. The patient was most impaired on visual working memory, but the degree of impairment depended on the number of items. Verbal memory functions were mildly impaired.