Which deficit is typical of a right hemisphere stroke?

• A. Right-Sided Weakness and Aphasia
• B. Left-Sided Weakness and Perceptual Deficits
• C. Memory Loss Only
• D. Seizures Without Motor Deficits

Answer: (B)

A right hemisphere stroke tends to disrupt functions that manage attention and spatial awareness, which affects the left side of the body and space. The right hemisphere plays a key role in perceiving and attending to the left side of the environment, so damage there commonly produces left-sided weakness (or paralysis) along with perceptual or visual-spatial deficits, such as neglect of the left side. Language deficits like aphasia are more typical when the left hemisphere is affected, since language centers are usually dominant on that side. Memory changes can occur with brain injury but aren’t the defining feature of a right-sided stroke, and seizures without motor deficits aren’t the hallmark pattern. Therefore, the combination of left-sided weakness and perceptual deficits best reflects a right hemisphere stroke.