How a Stroke Can Make Half of the World Seem to Disappear

Imagine it is your birthday, and a giant chocolate cake is sitting in front of you. You eat the frosting and sprinkles on the right... but completely ignore the left side. You are still hungry, but your brain says, “Nope, nothing more to eat here”! For some people who have had a brain injury, such as a stroke, an entire half of their world can simply disappear. This condition, called spatial neglect, can cause patients to eat only half of their food, draw half of a picture, or notice only one side of the world. In this article, you will first learn how strokes occur. We will then dive inside the brain to teach you how a stroke can change the way the brain works. Finally, we will explore how these changes can lead to spatial neglect, and the many strange and surprising ways it can affect people’s lives.