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 Lobes of the brain, 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 integra ...

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 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: *

Dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

* William's syndrome *

Neurofibromatosis type I Neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1), or von Recklinghausen syndrome, is a complex multi-system neurocutaneous disorder caused by a subset of genetic mutations at the neurofibromin 1 (''NF1'') locus. Other conditions associated with mutation of the ...

Patients with

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

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 neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

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 variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

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