Feasibility of a Semi-computerized Line Bisection Test for Unilateral Visual Neglect Assessment

The Neuropsychological Assessment of Unilateral Spatial Neglect Through Computerized and Virtual Reality Tools: A Scoping Review

Unilateral Spatial Neglect is a disabling neuropsychological deficit. Patients with spatial neglect fail to detect and report events, and to perform actions in the side of space contralateral to a hemispheric cerebral lesion. Neglect is assessed by evaluating the patients' abilities in daily life activities and by psychometric tests. Computer-based, portable and Virtual Reality technologies may provide more and precise data, and be more sensitive and informative, compared to current paper-and-pencil procedures. Studies since 2010, in which such technologies have been used, are reviewed. Forty-two articles meeting inclusion criteria are categorized according to their technological approaches (computer-, graphics tablet or tablet-, virtual reality-based assessment, and other). The results are promising. However, a definite golden standard, technologically based procedure cannot be still established. Developing technologically based tests is a laborious process, which requires technical and user experience improvements as well as normative data, to increase the evidence of efficacy for clinical evaluation of at least some of the tests considered in this review.

A Comparative Study on Line Bisection and Landmark Task Performance Using a Hybrid Online Setting

Bisection tasks are commonly used to assess biases and asymmetries in visuospatial attention in both patients and neurologically intact individuals. In these tasks, participants are usually asked to identify the midpoint and manually bisect a horizontal line. Typically, healthy individuals tend to show an attention processing advantage for the left visual field, known as “pseudoneglect.” Here, performance at two computerized versions of the task was compared to assess pseudoneglect in neurologically intact individuals. Specifically, we used a hybrid online setting in which subjects (n = 35) performed the online tasks under the video guidance of the experimenter. We measured attentional biases in the line bisection and landmark tasks. We found pseudoneglect in both tasks, although the bias was larger in the line bisection task. Overall, these findings show that hybrid online tasks may provide a valid setting to assess attentional biases and suggest their feasibility in the clinical setting.

Computer-based assessment of unilateral spatial neglect: A systematic review

Background

To date, no gold standard exists for the assessment of unilateral spatial neglect (USN), a common post-stroke cognitive impairment, with limited sensitivity provided by currently used clinical assessments. Extensive research has shown that computer-based (CB) assessment can be more sensitive, but these have not been adopted by stroke services yet.

Objective

We conducted a systematic review providing an overview of existing CB tests for USN to identify knowledge gaps and positive/negative aspects of different methods. This review also investigated the benefits and barriers of introducing CB assessment tasks to clinical settings and explored practical implications for optimizing future designs.

Methodology

We included studies that investigated the efficacy of CB neglect assessment tasks compared to conventional methods in detecting USN for adults with brain damage. Study identification was conducted through electronic database searches (e.g., Scopus), using keywords and standardized terms combinations, without date limitation (last search: 08/06/2022). Literature review and study selection were based on prespecified inclusion criteria. The quality of studies was assessed with the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies tool (Quadas-2). Data synthesis included a narrative synthesis, a table summarizing the evidence, and vote counting analysis based on a direction of effect plot.

Results

A total of 28 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. According to our results, 13/28 studies explored CB versions of conventional tasks, 11/28 involved visual search tasks, and 5/28 other types of tasks. The vote counting analysis revealed that 17/28 studies found CB tasks had either equal or higher sensitivity than conventional methods and positive correlation with conventional methods (15/28 studies). Finally, 20/28 studies showed CB tasks effectively detected patients with USN within different patient groups and control groups (17/28).

Conclusions

The findings of this review provide practical implications for the implementation of CB assessment in the future, offering important information to enhance a variety of methodological issues. The study adds to our understanding of using CB tasks for USN assessment, exploring their efficacy and benefits compared to conventional methods, and considers their adoption in clinical environments.

Virtual reality for the assessment and rehabilitation of neglect: where are we now? A 6-year review update

Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a frequent repercussion of a cerebrovascular accident, typically a stroke. USN patients fail to orient their attention to the contralesional side to detect auditory, visual, and somatosensory stimuli, as well as to collect and purposely use this information. Traditional methods for USN assessment and rehabilitation include paper-and-pencil procedures, which address cognitive functions as isolated from other aspects of patients' functioning within a real-life context. This might compromise the ecological validity of these procedures and limit their generalizability; moreover, USN evaluation and treatment currently lacks a gold standard. The field of technology has provided several promising tools that have been integrated within the clinical practice; over the years, a "first wave" has promoted computerized methods, which cannot provide an ecological and realistic environment and tasks. Thus, a "second wave" has fostered the implementation of virtual reality (VR) devices that, with different degrees of immersiveness, induce a sense of presence and allow patients to actively interact within the life-like setting. The present paper provides an updated, comprehensive picture of VR devices in the assessment and rehabilitation of USN, building on the review of Pedroli et al. (2015). The present paper analyzes the methodological and technological aspects of the studies selected, considering the issue of usability and ecological validity of virtual environments and tasks. Despite the technological advancement, the studies in this field lack methodological rigor as well as a proper evaluation of VR usability and should improve the ecological validity of VR-based assessment and rehabilitation of USN.

Feasibility of a novice electronic psychometric assessment system for cognitively impaired

The assessment and rehabilitation of patients with cognitive dysfunction is a field that currently requires assistive technology. While the paper-and-pencil test, such as the line tracing test, is one of the commonly used assessment methods for cognitive dysfunction, accuracy, and time-consuming assessment process needed technological application. The aim of this study was therefore to establish a computer-based real-time assessment system (e-system) for patients without compromising the usefulness of the conventional paper-and-pencil based user tools with 50 healthy participants. The comparison of the e-system with the golden-standard assessment (evaluator) results showed high concordance correlation coefficients of 0.89 and 0.87 and small effective sizes of 0.27 and 0.27 between two repeated measures. The Bland-Altman plots also showed smaller degree of error and greater repeatability in comparison to the repeated measures. Moreover, the accuracy rates of 96.5% and 96.4% were shown. The results indicated feasibility of the novice e-system. The e-system may assist rehabilitation specialists to assess and diagnose patients with cognitive dysfunction. This system can be applied to a range of assessment and rehabilitation modalities based on pen and paper. It can also be used for various patients such as those with Parkinson disease, stroke, or different forms of brain lesions.

Feasibility of a set of wrist-worn novice devices for dual motion comparison of the upper limbs during lateral raise motions

Comparison of the upper limbs during natural kinematic motions is necessary for early detection of musculoskeletal imbalance between ipsilateral and contralateral sides in natural settings. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a novice set of wrist-worn devices designed to assess and compare the dual kinematic motions of the upper limbs during lateral raises. The test-retest and the golden standard and novice device result comparisons were conducted for feasibility assessment of the novice set of devices. Pearson correlation coefficients between 0.65 and 0.88 (P<0.01) and effect sizes between 0.02 and 0.42 indicated feasible application of the novice devices. Considering correlation coefficient of 0.65 between the left and right upper limbs, the results show applicable feasibility of the novice device during lateral raises. In conclusion, the novice set of devices for comparing dual upper limb motions may be applied to assessing and comparing dual upper limb motions for limb motion comparisons and early detection of dysfunctional movements between the limbs.

Gender Comparisons of Asymmetric Lateralization in Neurodegenerative Disorder Patients via E-Pen Based Cognitive Assessment System

BACKGROUND

The clinical gender-dependent characteristics of visuospatial neglect between men and women have not been elucidated in Korean patients with cognitive impairment. The goal of this study was to observe the asymmetric lateralization in patients using a novel e-pen based cognitive assessment system.

METHODS

A total of 31 patients, 16 men and 15 women, with early stage hemispheric cerebral dysfunction were recruited for the assessment of unilateral neglect suing a novice paper-and-pencil based electronic evaluation system from a rehabilitation center of Inha University hospital in 2016. Results were assessed for degrees of deviations, and numbers of neglected lines. Degree of deviation was assessed using the positions and distances from the horizontal line centers. Effect sizes were calculated to assess proximities between the assessed results.

RESULTS

Comparatively greater left and rightward biasness for the right-sided and left-sided horizontal lines were observed for the male patients, respectively. Moreover, greater degree of left to rightward biasness was observed as the horizontal lines shortened in both groups. However, the magnitude of biasness in female patients showed comparatively less directional bias, indicating greater prevalence for the center of mass effect in male patients.

CONCLUSION

Gender difference in visuospatial neglect seems to exist with less accuracy in recognition for the bisecting center for the female and asymmetrical lateralization and magnitude of deviation for the male patients.