Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Organized behaviour requires the coordination of perception and action, both of which rely on information that Is spatially coded. The question is whether perception and action draw upon a common set of spatial representations or whether they rely on separate representations which must be linked to achieve integrated behaviour. These two alternative views are difficult to distinguish in normal behaviour but neuropsychological evidence obtained from patients with spatial Impairments may prove useful In addressing this Issue. Patients with unilateral neglect, a deficit In visuospatlal attention following right hemisphere damage, fail to report Information appearing on their contraleslonal left-hand side. Many of these same patients are also be Impaired at directing actions to their contraleslonal lefthand side. Experiments designed to examine the relationship between perceptual neglect and action (motor) neglect reveal a close correspondence between these deficits in at least some patients. These findings suggest a tight coupling of perception and action, indicating the use of a common spatial map.