Awareness of deficit following right hemisphere stroke

Lack of awareness of hemiplegia is reported to accompany right hemisphere damage (RHD). However, awareness of cognitive or affective deficits in RHD patients has received less attention. We compared awareness of behavioral, cognitive, and affective abilities in 10 RHD stroke patients and 10 normal controls (NC). Participants rated their performance on a 10-point scale after completing the Mini-Mental Status Examination, the Line Bisection Test, and facial, prosodic, and cross-modal subtests of the Florida Affect Battery. Subjects also completed the Zung Depression Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and subjects and caregivers completed the modified Competency Rating Scale. RHD subjects performed significantly worse than controls on all measures except the Zung and the PANAS. RHD patients also rated their performance on each measure as significantly lower than NC subjects rated their own performance. RHD patients were not depressed according to the Zung. These findings suggest that these RHD patients were aware of their deficits, but indifferent to them.