Embedded Files
Learning Intention: You will learn about...
Different brain disorders due to brain damage.
Success Criteria: You will be able to...
Define spatial neglect.
Link spatial neglect to a particular structure of the brain.
Explain how the structures that were damaged caused changes in Phineas Gage.
Key Terms:
Phineas Gage
Spatial Neglect
Neglect Syndrome
1. Goal
1. Goal
"What happens when the brain ignores half of the world?"
Explain learning objectives:
What spatial neglect is and what causes it
How it affects daily life
How psychologists assess and treat it
2. Access Prior Knowledge
2. Access Prior Knowledge
Ask: Have you ever completely missed something right in front of you? Why?
Watch video (selective attention test) >
Discuss: Why does our brain sometimes ignore things?
New Knowledge
New Knowledge
PP Option 1 (see right)
PP Option 2 - Brain Damage
Spatial neglect = brain damage (usually right hemisphere) → ignores left side
Common causes = stroke, brain injury
Application Tasks
Application Tasks
Complete the Which part of the brain is damaged if….? Activity (on the PP Option 2 slides)
Line Bisection Test
Worksheet: Mark the middle of different lines.
Compare results: People with spatial neglect mark more to the right.
Quick discussion: What does this tell us about attention?
Drawing Task
Students copy a clock or flower from the board.
Show actual patient drawings (half-missing clocks).
Discuss: What does this reveal about brain damage?
Case Study
Read the short case study below about a patient with spatial neglect.
Background:
Mrs. K, a 68-year-old woman, suffered a stroke in the right hemisphere of her brain. After her stroke, doctors noticed she only ate food on the right side of her plate and only applied makeup to the right half of her face.
Tests & Observations:
When asked to draw a clock, she placed all the numbers on the right side.
During the line bisection test, she marked the middle too far to the right.
When asked about a painting with a house on the left and a tree on the right, she only described the tree.
Discussion Questions:
What do her behaviors tell us about her attention?
Why do you think her eyesight is fine, but she still ignores the left side?
How does this condition impact her daily life?
Treatment Discussion
Quick brainstorm: How could psychologists help?
Research treatment strategies (e.g., visual scanning therapy, prism glasses).
Class debate: If you were a psychologist, how would you help a patient improve?
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Patients with hemispatial neglect (often due to damage in the right parietal lobe) don't consciously realise they are neglecting one side. It’s not just a visual problem—it’s an attention problem.
When they attempt to draw a clock, they might believe they are drawing it correctly because their brain doesn’t register that anything is missing. Their spatial awareness is impaired, so they aren't aware that they’ve squashed all the numbers onto one side. Even when shown their mistakes, many neglect patients don’t recognise the error, a phenomenon known as anosognosia (lack of awareness of their own condition).
Essentially, their brain knows what a clock looks like, but their attention is so biased to one side that they only perceive and act on half of the visual space.
The line bisection test reveals that attention is not just about seeing—it’s controlled by the brain.
People with spatial neglect don’t actually have vision problems—their eyes work fine. Instead, their brain fails to process information from one side (usually the left).
This shows that attention is selective—our brain actively chooses what to focus on.
It also suggests that one side of the brain (usually the right) is more responsible for directing attention to both sides of space. When it’s damaged, the left side gets ignored.
Generalisation
Class discussion: "How does spatial neglect help us understand the role of attention in daily life?"
Link to real-life scenarios (e.g., car accidents, eyewitness testimony).
Exit ticket: "One thing I learned today about attention is..."
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