Patients With Left Spatial Neglect Also Neglect the “Left Side” of Time

This will be great to stump your doctor. What the hell is the left side of time?
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/25/1/207.abstract

1. Arnaud Saj1
2. Orly Fuhrman2
3. Patrik Vuilleumier1
4. Lera Boroditsky3

1. ¹Department of Neurology and Neurosciences, University Hospital of Geneva, University of Geneva
2. ²Department of Psychology, Stanford University
3. ³Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego

1. Lera Boroditsky, Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093-0515 E-mail: lera@ucsd.edu

1. Author Contributions O. Fuhrman and L. Boroditsky developed the study concept. O. Fuhrman spearheaded the study design, with contributions by P. Vuilleumier, A. Saj, and L. Boroditsky. Testing and data collection were performed by A. Saj under the direction of P. Vuilleumier. L. Boroditsky analyzed and interpreted the data, with contributions from A. Saj and O. Fuhrman. L. Boroditsky drafted the manuscript, with critical revisions provided by P. Vuilleumier, A. Saj, and O. Fuhrman. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Abstract

Previous research suggests that people construct mental time lines to represent and reason about time. However, is the ability to represent space truly necessary for representing events along a mental time line? Our results are the first to demonstrate that deficits in spatial representation (as a function of left hemispatial neglect) also result in deficits in representing events along the mental time line. Specifically, we show that patients with left hemispatial neglect have difficulty representing events that are associated with the past and, thus, fall to the left on the mental time line. These results demonstrate that representations of space and time share neural underpinnings and that representations of time have specific spatial properties (e.g., a left and a right side). Furthermore, it appears that intact spatial representations are necessary for at least some types of temporal representation.