Spatial neglect in the digital age - Influence of presentation format on patients' test behavior

Computerization of diagnostic neglect tests can deepen our knowledge of neglect specific abnormalities, by effortlessly providing additional behavioral markers that are hardly extractable from existing paper-and-pencil versions. However, so far it is not known whether the digitization and/or a change in size format impact neglect patients search behavior and test scores and thus require adjustments of cut-off criteria. We compared the Center of cancellation (CoC) measure of right hemisphere stroke patients with spatial neglect in two cancellation tasks across different modalities (paper-and-pencil vs. digital) and display sizes (small, medium, large). We found that the CoC measure did neither vary considerably between paper-and-pencil versus digital versions, nor between different digital size formats. The CoC derived from cancellation tasks thus seems robust to test digitization. A further aim of the present study was to evaluate three additional parameters of search behavior which became available through digitization. We observed slower search behavior, increased distance between two consecutively identified items, and signs of a more strategic search for neglect patients than control patients without neglect. Machine learning classifications indicated that - beyond the CoC measure - the latter three variables can help to differentiate stroke patients with spatial neglect from thosewithout.