Abstract
Previous studies on brain-damaged patients have shown impairments in orientation. When the results have been based on a route-finding test the impairment was found in both left and right parietal lesion groups, while when maze tests have been used, the impairment correlated clearly only with lesions of the right hemisphere.
In the present study the route-finding test was given to 77 right-handed patients with unilateral cortical lesions (33 right-sided, and 44 left-sided), and to 24 controls. In order to evaluate the possible influence of kinesthetic afferents, the test was carried out under two different conditions: active (walking) and passive (in a pushchair).
The results show the performances of subjects with lesions on the left side are significantly poorer than those of the controls, but better than those of subjects with lesions on the right side. For both groups the impairment associated with the lesion is the same under active and passive conditions, which does not support the hypothesis of the possible role of the kinesthetic afferents. Posterior lesions produce significantly more failures in both groups. The importance of the parietal lobe, however, was clearly seen only in subjects with lesions on the right side.
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