Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying post-stroke deficits in contralesional perceptual processing

Abstract

Slowed responding to sensory inputs presented in contralesional space is pervasive following unilateral cerebral stroke, but the causal neurophysiological pathway by which this occurs remains unclear. To this end, here we leverage a perceptual decision-making framework to disambiguate information processing stages between sensation and action in 30 unilateral stroke patients (18 right hemisphere, 12 left hemisphere) and 27 neurologically healthy adults. By recording neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG) during task performance, we show that the relationship between strokes in either hemisphere and slowed contralesional response times is sequentially mediated by weaker target selection signals in the contralateral hemisphere (the N2c ERP), and subsequently delayed evidence accumulation signals (the centroparietal positivity). Notably, asymmetries in CPP and response times across hemispheres are associated with everyday functioning. Together, these data suggest a plausible neurophysiological pathway by which post-stroke contralesional slowing arises and highlight the utility of neurophysiological assessments for tracking clinically relevant behaviour.