Spatial reference frames and hierarchical object representations:
Evidence from drawing in hemispatial neglect

David C. Plaut and Marlene Behrmann

Department of Psychology
Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

When drawing, patients with right parietal lesions typically omit details on the left side of figures. We present empirical evidence for the sensitivity of such drawing to object orientation and structure, and provide a computational account in terms of the interaction among multiple reference frames and hierarchical object representations. Neglect is successfully modeled as a monotonic drop-off in attention from right to left that affects performance in both viewer-centered and (hierarchically defined) object-centered reference frames.