Influence of acquiring reading and writing on visuo-spatial pseudohemineglect

Abstract

Acquiring and practicing reading and writing, based on a left to right scanning pattern as in Greek–Latin derived cultures, might influence the answers in different visuo-spatial tasks. We compared (independently for each hand) the performance in a visuo-spatial task of line bisection, or two groups of 34 pupils in the first grade and 35 pupils in the third grade, respectively, all right-handed. A significant right pseudohemineglect (in absolute terms) describes the motor response of the left hand in both groups, but of the right hand only in subjects enrolled in the third grade. Promotion in formal education at the beginning of the school ladder seems to be associated in both hands with the advancement of the observed pseudohemineglect phenomenon. The results are integrated into the frame of current explanations and theories concerning visuo-spatial hemineglect and pseudohemineglect.