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The Inferior Temporal Lobe Mediates Distracter-Resistant Visual Search of Patients with Spatial Neglect

Division of Rehabilitation, University Hospital Geneva, Switzerland

Reprint requests should be sent to Radek Ptak, Service de Rééducation, Hôpital Cantonal Universitaire, 26, Avenue de Beau-Séjour, CH-1211 Genève 14, Switzerland, or via e-mail: Radek.Ptak{at}hcuge.ch.

Although impaired visual search is a core deficit of patients with spatial neglect, current evidence is not conclusive about the mechanisms underlying this failure. We present evidence from 14 neglect patients searching for a target defined by two perceptual features that visual search is mediated by mechanisms of attentional competition. Participants were tested in three search conditions with constant target and distracter positions: Distracters did not share any feature with the target; distracters shared one feature with the target; two distracters shared one feature and one distracter shared the other feature with the target (mixed condition). Whereas search performance of healthy participants was comparable across conditions, neglect patients had a significant contralesional slowing in the mixed condition compared with the other two conditions. A detailed lesion analysis revealed that involvement of the parietal lobe did not predict the degree of distractibility in visual search. In contrast, neglect patients with high distractibility had more frequent damage to the inferior temporal lobe, suggesting a preliminary role of this region for competitive attentional processes involved in visual search of spatial neglect patients.

Key Words: Spatial neglect • visual search • attentional competition • parietal lobe • inferior temporal lobe

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Ptak, A. Schnider, L. Golay, and R. Muri A non-spatial bias favouring fixated stimuli revealed in patients with spatial neglect Brain, December 1, 2007; 130(12): 3211 - 3222. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Ptak and A. Schnider Reflexive Orienting in Spatial Neglect Is Biased towards Behaviourally Salient Stimuli Cereb Cortex, March 1, 2006; 16(3): 337 - 345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]