Caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS) can temporarily reduce visuospatial neglect and related symptoms. The present study examined the effect of CVS on representational neglect during free exploration of the map of France. We asked patients to name cities they could mentally “see” on the map of France, without giving them any directional instructions related to the left or right sides of the map. In right brain damaged patients with left visuospatial neglect, the mental representation of the map was asymmetrical (favoring the right side). After stimulation, neglect patients named more towns on the left side of the map, leading to a significant reduction in map representation asymmetry. Our findings are consistent with previous studies on visuospatial neglect and are in favor of a central effect of vestibular stimulation on mechanisms involved in space representation.

中文翻译：

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热量的前庭刺激减少了代表性忽视中的方向性偏见。

热量前庭刺激（CVS）可以暂时减轻视觉空间疏忽和相关症状。本研究在自由探索法国地图期间研究了CVS对代表性疏忽的影响。我们要求患者在法国地图上命名他们可以在精神上“看到”的城市，而无需向他们提供与地图左侧或右侧相关的任何方向性指示。在右脑受损的患者中，左眼视觉空间被忽略，地图的心理表现是不对称的（有利于右侧）。刺激后，忽略的患者在地图左侧命名了更多城镇，从而大大减少了地图表示的不对称性。