Elsevier

Brain and Cognition

Volume 12, Issue 2, March 1990, Pages 195-204
Brain and Cognition

Impaired shifting of attention in Balint's syndrome

https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2626(90)90015-GGet rights and content

Abstract

We assessed the efficiency of attentional shifts across the horizontal and vertical axes of the visual field in a patient with Balint's syndrome caused by bilateral parieto-occipital infarctions. This was performed using an adaptation of Posner's peripheral cueing paradigm. In contrast to normal controls and patients with unilateral parietal lesions previously reported, this patient did not benefit from cues directing attention to the left or right visual field. She appeared to benefit only when the cues directed attention to the upper visual field. This suggests a defect in shifting attention that may occur following bilateral parietal lesions. We discuss the implications of these findings for the role of the parietal lobes in attentional processes and for our understanding of the behavioral abnormalities observed in Balint's syndrome.

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    This work was supported in part by the Medical Research Service of the Veterans Administration.

    1

    Present address: Memory Disorders Research Center at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.

    2

    Present address: Department of Neurology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

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