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עמוד:78
Booklet Page 48 : Presenting a case Case 2 Seeing only Half the World Mrs . G . was a 45-year-old schoolteacher who had always been healthy until she woke up one morning and found that she could not lift her left arm . Her doctor sent her to a neurologist , who did an fMRI scan of her brain . The results of the scan proved that Mrs . G had suffered a mild stroke . Luckily , the stroke had affected only a tiny area in the right hemisphere of her brain . Working with a physical therapist , Mrs . G . was able to use her left arm again after two months . Since she was right-handed anyway , it didn ' t bother her that she couldn ' t use her left hand so well . She seemed to have no other noticeable side effects . Three months after her stroke , Mrs . G . felt healthy enough to return to teaching . However , after a few weeks , she decided that she had to quit . "I would ask a question and choose a student who had raised his hand to answer . But I wasn ' t noticing the students sitting to my left . It was as if I couldn ' t see them . I had to turn my whole body towards the left and look carefully to see the other half of the class . " Mrs . G . was suffering from a phenomenon called "side neglect . " Side neglect often occurs following an accident or a stroke . It usually occurs when there is damage to the right side of the brain and often affects a patient ' s visual perception . People with side neglect tend to bump into the left sides of doorways , for example , or might be unable to find objects that are located to their left . They only perceive half of what normal brains do . Many patients who suffer from side neglect are unaware that they have a problem . They usually don ' t realize they aren ' t seeing " the whole picture . " This is because everyone has a blind spot in their visual field - the spot where the nerves connect the eye to the brain . The brain has the ability to fill in the blank and complete the picture . One way to help side neglect patients function in the world is to make them aware of the problem . With the right therapy , many of these patients may be able to learn how to see the whole picture again . Mrs . G ' s case reinforces the theory that the right side of the brain controls the functions of the left side of the body . It is also important for the study of visual perception and the effects of the blind spot .
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