TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of stimulus salience and attentional demands on visual search patterns in hemispatial neglect
AU - Aglioti, Salvatore
AU - Smania, Nicola
AU - Barbieri, Cristina
AU - Corbetta, Maurizio
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Mr. Marco Veronese and Mr. Daniele Molinari for their help with the preparation of the figures. This research was supported by funds from the M.U.R.S.T. and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy. Reprints requests should be addressed to Salvatore Aglioti, Dipartimento di Scienze Neuro-logiche e della Visione-Sezione Fisiologia Umana, Strada Le Grazie 8, Verona, I-37134, Italy. Fax: ++39-45-580881. E-mail: [email protected]. 388
PY - 1997/8
Y1 - 1997/8
N2 - Seventy-five left and right brain-damaged patients, with or without hemispatial neglect, and 40 age matched control subjects were tested on cancellation tasks with two different visual textures modeled after Julesz (1981). In one condition ('preattentive'), target elements segregated easily from background elements and were perceived effortlessly. In the other ('attentive'), target elements did not segregate easily and could be detected only after prolonged focal scrutiny. Both controls and patients were more accurate and faster on the preattentive than attentive texture. However, only neglect patients were disproportionately impaired on the attentive texture, thus suggesting that unilateral neglect is exacerbated by the low visual salience of the stimuli and a higher engagement of focal attention. Thus, a simple bedside test may help to tell apart the level of visual information processing maximally impaired in neglect patients.
AB - Seventy-five left and right brain-damaged patients, with or without hemispatial neglect, and 40 age matched control subjects were tested on cancellation tasks with two different visual textures modeled after Julesz (1981). In one condition ('preattentive'), target elements segregated easily from background elements and were perceived effortlessly. In the other ('attentive'), target elements did not segregate easily and could be detected only after prolonged focal scrutiny. Both controls and patients were more accurate and faster on the preattentive than attentive texture. However, only neglect patients were disproportionately impaired on the attentive texture, thus suggesting that unilateral neglect is exacerbated by the low visual salience of the stimuli and a higher engagement of focal attention. Thus, a simple bedside test may help to tell apart the level of visual information processing maximally impaired in neglect patients.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0031214289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1006/brcg.1997.0915
DO - 10.1006/brcg.1997.0915
M3 - Article
C2 - 9292188
AN - SCOPUS:0031214289
SN - 0278-2626
VL - 34
SP - 388
EP - 403
JO - Brain and Cognition
JF - Brain and Cognition
IS - 3
ER -