Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO) is a standardized test of visuospatial skills commonly associated with functioning of the

parietal lobe The parietal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The parietal lobe is positioned above the temporal lobe and behind the frontal lobe and central sulcus. The parietal lobe integrates sensory informa ...

in the right hemisphere. The test measures a person's ability to match the angle and orientation of lines in space. Subjects are asked to match two angled lines to a set of 11 lines that are arranged in a semicircle and separated 18 degrees from each other. The complete test has 30 items, but short forms have also been created. There is normative data available for ages 7-96. In 1994,

Arthur L. Benton Arthur Lester Benton (October 16, 1909 – December 27, 2006) was a neuropsychologist and Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Psychology at the University of Iowa. Biography He received his A.B. from Oberlin College in 1931, his A.M. from Ober ...

developed the test from his study of the effects of a right hemisphere lesion on spatial skills.

Clinical performances

In a study measuring JLO scores and on-road performance, JLO was correlated with better backing-up scores.

Neurological disorders

Patients with the following disorders often fail the JLO test: *

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William's syndrome Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder that affects many parts of the body. Facial features frequently include a broad forehead, underdeveloped chin, short nose, and full cheeks. Mild to moderate intellectual disability is observed in people ...

* Neurofibromatosis type I Patients with

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

often perform poorly on this test. It has been suggested that patients with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

perform poorly because of the complexity of task demands, not due to visuospatial deficits.

Psychiatric disorders

Studies performed on people with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wi ...

found no deficit in performance.

Procedure

The test consists of five practice trials followed by 30 test items. It is suitable for adult and pediatric populations. The test has two forms, H and J, which present the same 30 trials but in different order. Responses to prompts can be pointed to or spoken.

Scoring

A score of 17 or less is considered a sign of severe deficit.

References