Transcranial direct current stimulation improves perceptual performance in a patient with unilateral neglect

One frequent symptom of strokes with occipito-temporo-parietal lesions, especially of the right hemisphere, is contralateral neglect. In chronic stroke patients the perceptual deficit is sustained by maladaptive neuroplastic processes, which weaken the respective cortical representations and thus stabilize the perceptual/attentional deficit. This maladaptive plasticity might be caused by a diminution in activity of the lesioned hemisphere, which is stabilized by transcallosal inhibition caused by hyperactivity of the non-lesioned contralateral cortex. In view of this, inducing excitation enhancement of the lesio…