A Meta-Analysis of Line Bisection and Landmark Task Performance in Older Adults

Neuropsychology Review ◽

10.1007/s11065-021-09505-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gemma Learmonth ◽

Marietta Papadatou-Pastou

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Line Length ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Group Level ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Leftward Bias ◽

State Dependent ◽

The Right ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Line Bisection Task

AbstractYoung adults exhibit a small asymmetry of visuospatial attention that favours the left side of space relative to the right (pseudoneglect). However, it remains unclear whether this leftward bias is maintained, eliminated or shifted rightward in older age. Here we present two meta-analyses that aimed to identify whether adults aged ≥50 years old display a group-level spatial attention bias, as indexed by the line bisection and the landmark tasks. A total of 69 datasets from 65 studies, involving 1654 participants, were analysed. In the meta-analysis of the line bisection task (n = 63), no bias was identified for studies where the mean age was ≥50, but there was a clear leftward bias in a subset where all individual participants were aged ≥50. There was no moderating effect of the participant’s age or sex, line length, line position, nor the presence of left or right cues. There was a small publication bias in favour of reporting rightward biases. Of note, biases were slightly more leftward in studies where participants had been recruited as part of a stand-alone older group, compared to studies where participants were recruited as controls for a clinical study. Similarly, no spatial bias was observed in the meta-analysis of the landmark task, although the number of studies included was small (n = 6). Overall, these results indicate that over 50s maintain a group-level leftward bias on the line bisection task, but more studies are needed to determine whether this bias can be modulated by stimulus- or state-dependent factors.

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A meta-analysis of line bisection and landmark task performance in older adults

10.31234/osf.io/em8bh ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gemma Learmonth ◽

Marietta Papadatou-Pastou

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Line Length ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Group Level ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Leftward Bias ◽

State Dependent ◽

The Right ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Line Bisection Task

Young adults exhibit a small asymmetry of visuospatial attention that favours the left side of space relative to the right (pseudoneglect). However, it remains unclear whether this leftward bias is maintained, eliminated or shifted rightward in older age. Here we present two meta-analyses that aimed to identify whether adults aged ≥50 years old display a group-level spatial attention bias, as indexed by the line bisection and the landmark tasks. A total of 69 datasets from 65 studies, involving 1654 participants, were analysed. In the meta-analysis of the line bisection task (n = 63), no bias was identified for studies where the mean age was ≥50, but there was a clear leftward bias in a subset where all individual participants were aged ≥50. There was no moderating effect of the participant’s age or sex, line length, line position, nor the presence of left or right cues. There was a small publication bias in favour of reporting rightward biases. Of note, biases were slightly more leftward in studies where participants had been recruited as part of a stand-alone older group, compared to studies where participants were recruited as controls for a clinical study. Similarly, no spatial bias was observed in the meta-analysis of the landmark task, although the number of studies included was small (n = 6). Overall, these results indicate that over 50s maintain a group-level leftward bias on the line bisection task, but more studies are needed to determine whether this bias can be modulated by stimulus- and/or state-dependent factors.

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A meta-analysis of line bisection and landmark task performance in children

10.31234/osf.io/n26fx ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Danishta Kaul ◽

Marietta Papadatou-Pastou ◽

Gemma Learmonth

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Hand Preference ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Control Group ◽

Group Status ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Moderator Analysis ◽

Left Handed ◽

The Right ◽

Line Bisection Task

Young adults exhibit a subtle, group-level asymmetry of lateral spatial attention favouring the left hemispace over the right (pseudoneglect). We have recently shown that leftward biases are maintained in older adults aged ≥50 when measured using the line bisection task (Learmonth and Papadatou-Pastou 2021). Here we present a meta-analysis of spatial biases in children aged ≤16 years. Databases (PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus) and pre-print servers (bioRxiv, medRxiv, and PsyArXiv) were searched up to 8th March 2021 for studies involving children aged ≤16, who were tested using the line bisection or landmark task, and who had not been recruited as an atypically developing group. Thirty-six datasets from 33 studies, involving 2515 children, were included. A small leftward bias was identified overall (Cohen’s d = -.18, 95% CI = -.36, -.01). No spatial bias was identified when the 33 line bisection studies were analysed separately (d = -.16, 95% CI = -.35, .04). Moderator analysis of the line bisection task found a strong influence of the hand that was used to bisect the line, with right-handed actions resulting in right-biased bisections, and left-handed actions in left-biased bisections (symmetrical neglect). Bisections were slightly more leftward in studies that included a higher percentage of boys relative to girls. Age, hand preference, and the control group status of the children did not moderate spatial biases and we found no evidence of small study publication bias. However, the number of studies included in each moderator analysis was small. This meta-analysis confirms that pseudoneglect is present in children, but its detection is dependent on the task that is used.

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No Evidence of Perceptual Pseudoneglect in Alexithymia

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11030376 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 376

Author(s):

Carmelo Mario Vicario ◽

Gabriella Martino ◽

Alex Marcuzzo ◽

Giuseppe Craparo

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Mental Condition ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Rightward Shift ◽

Behavioral Evidence ◽

And Performance ◽

The Right ◽

Line Bisection Task ◽

Tas 20

Neuroscience research links alexithymia, the difficulty in identifying and describing feelings and emotions, with left hemisphere dominance and/or right hemisphere deficit. To provide behavioral evidence for this neuroscientific hypothesis, we explored the relationship between alexithymia and performance in a line bisection task, a standard method for evaluating visuospatial processing in relation to right hemisphere functioning. We enrolled 222 healthy participants who completed a version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), which measures alexithymia, and were asked to mark (bisect) the center of a 10-cm horizontal segment. The results document a significant rightward shift in the center of the line in participants with borderline and manifest alexithymia compared with non-alexithymic individuals. The higher the TAS-20 score, the greater the rightward shift in the line bisection task. This finding supports the right hemisphere deficit hypothesis in alexithymia and suggests that visuospatial abnormalities may be an important component of this mental condition.

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Variation among Nonclinical Subjects on a Line-Bisection Task

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1998.86.3.834 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 86 (3) ◽

pp. 834-834 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Roddy Cowie ◽

Glenn Hamill

Keyword(s):

Normal Population ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Leftward Bias ◽

Strategy Variables ◽

Line Bisection Task

Absence of leftward bias in a line-bisection task is often used as a clinical hemispheric indicator, but the effect is not uniform in a normal population. Sex, handedness, and strategy variables affect the strength and direction of any bias.

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Disconnection somewhere down the line: Multivariate lesion-symptom mapping of the line bisection error

10.1101/2020.04.01.020271 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Wiesen ◽

Hans-Otto Karnath ◽

Christoph Sperber

Keyword(s):

Line Bisection ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Support Vector ◽

Focal Lesion ◽

Stroke Patients ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Anatomical Basis ◽

Lesion Symptom Mapping ◽

The Right ◽

Line Bisection Task

AbstractLine Bisection is a simple task frequently used in stroke patients to diagnose disorders of spatial perception characterized by a directional bisection bias to the ipsilesional side. However, previous anatomical and behavioural findings are contradictory, and the diagnostic validity of the line bisection task has been challenged. We hereby aimed to re-analyse the anatomical basis of pathological line bisection by using multivariate lesion-symptom mapping and disconnection-symptom mapping based on support vector regression in a sample of 163 right hemispheric acute stroke patients. In line with some previous studies, we observed that pathological line bisection was related to more than a single focal lesion location. Cortical damage primarily to right parietal areas, particularly the inferior parietal lobe, including the angular gyrus, as well as damage to the right basal ganglia contributed to the pathology. In contrast to some previous studies, an involvement of frontal cortical brain areas in the line bisection task was not observed. Subcortically, damage to the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (I, II and III) and arcuate fasciculus as well as the internal capsule was associated with line bisection errors. Moreover, white matter damage of interhemispheric fibre bundles, such as the anterior commissure and posterior parts of the corpus callosum projecting into the left hemisphere, was predictive of pathological deviation in the line bisection task.

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Spatial biases in deaf, blind, and deafblind individuals as revealed by a haptic line bisection task

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021817741288 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (11) ◽

pp. 2325-2333 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zaira Cattaneo ◽

Luca Rinaldi ◽

Carlo Geraci ◽

Carlo Cecchetto ◽

Costanza Papagno

Keyword(s):

Spatial Attention ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Bilateral Control ◽

Auditory Deprivation ◽

Directional Bias ◽

Bisection Task ◽

The Right ◽

And Control ◽

Line Bisection Task

In this study, we investigated whether auditory deprivation leads to a more balanced bilateral control of spatial attention in the haptic space. We tested four groups of participants: early deaf, early blind, deafblind, and control (normally hearing and sighted) participants. Using a haptic line bisection task, we found that while normally hearing individuals (even when blind) showed a significant tendency to bisect to the left of the veridical midpoint (i.e., pseudoneglect), deaf individuals did not show any significant directional bias. This was the case of both deaf signers and non-signers, in line with prior findings obtained using a visual line bisection task. Interestingly, deafblind individuals also erred significantly to the left, resembling the pattern of early blind and control participants. Overall, these data critically suggest that deafness induces changes in the hemispheric asymmetry subtending the orientation of spatial attention also in the haptic modality. Moreover, our findings indicate that what counterbalances the right-hemisphere dominance in the control of spatial attention is not the lack of auditory input per se, nor sign language use, but rather the heavier reliance on visual experience induced by early auditory deprivation.

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No Evidence of Perceptual Pseudoneglect in Alexithymia

10.20944/preprints202102.0322.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Carmelo Mario Vicario ◽

Gabriella Martino ◽

Alex Marcuzzo ◽

Giuseppe Craparo

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Line Bisection ◽

Line Center ◽

Bisection Task ◽

Rightward Shift ◽

The Right ◽

Line Bisection Task ◽

The Relationship ◽

Healthy Participants ◽

Tas 20

The research in neuroscience links alexithymia, the difficulty of identifying and describing feelings and emotions, with a left hemisphere preference and/or a right hemisphere deficit. To provide a neuropsychological support to this finding, we explored the relationship between alexithymia and the performance in a line bisection task, a standard method to evaluate spatial attention in relation with the functioning of the right hemisphere. 222 healthy participants completed a version of the TAS-20 scale, which measures alexithymia, and were asked to mark (bisect) the center of a 10 cm horizontal segment. The results document a significant rightward shift of the line center in borderline and manifest alexithymic participants, as compared to non-alexithymic individuals. Moreover, the higher the TAS-20 score the greater the rightward shift in the line bisection task. This result supports the right-hemisphere deficit hypothesis in alexithymia and suggests that visuospatial abnormalities may be an inner component of their profile.

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