Extra-dimensional versus intra-dimensional set shifting performance following frontal lobe excisions, temporal lobe excisions or amygdalo-hippocampectomy in man.
Attentional "set" shifting was assessed in a group of 20 neurosurgical patients with localized excisions of the frontal lobes, a group of 20 patients with unilateral temporal lobe lesions and a group of 11 patients who had undergone amygdalo-hippocampus removal. These three patient groups were compared with groups of both young (age-matched) and elderly normal control volunteers on a computerized test of visual discrimination learning involving both an intra- and an extra-dimensional shift. The frontal lobe group were selectively impaired in their ability to shift response set to a previously irrelevant dimension but not to shift attention to new exemplars of a previously relevant dimension. A similar pattern was observed in the elderly group of normal control volunteers. By comparison, both the temporal lobe patients and the amygdalo-hippocampectomy patients were unimpaired in their ability to perform either shift, although both groups had significantly prolonged selection latencies at the extra-dimensional shift stage of the task. These data are compared to previous findings from patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and are discussed in terms of a specific attentional set shifting deficit following frontal lobe damage.
Owen
A M
AM
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, U.K.
Roberts
A C
AC
Polkey
C E
CE
Sahakian
B J
BJ
Robbins
T W
TW
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014936:Word Association Tests