title: Development of visual perception and attention, assessed by backward masking and application in children with epilepsy.
abstract: Visual masking assesses visual perception and attention; it occurs when a visual stimulus (mask) interferes with the perception of a stimulus that the participant is trying to identify (target). A backward masking study (target presented before mask) was performed on 662 children without disabilities (338 females), aged between 6 and 17 years, in order to evaluate if performance varies with age. In the masking procedure 10 letters were presented through a tachistoscope as target stimuli. Fragments of letters oriented at random ('noise') represented the mask. A slight improvement of visual performance from the beginning of school age to 9-12 years of age was found. This paper gives normative data for the most important parameters which can be used as a standardized reference for the procedure employed. We also studied 113 children with epilepsy (56 females), aged between 5 and 19 years, who attended a mainstream school and had been seizure free for at least 2 years. Children were tested just before starting antiepileptic drug withdrawal and re-tested 1 year later; they were drug free for 3 months before the second test. These children showed, during and after treatment, only slightly worse results when compared with healthy children of the same age; after therapy withdrawal, their visual performance slightly improved but this was not statistically significant.
authors.affiliation: Second Paediatric Department, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Macchi
authors.forename: Livia Nicoletta
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cortinovis
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Menegazzo
authors.forename: Sandra Maria
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Burri
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piller
authors.forename: Claudia Carmen Vassella
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Brantschen
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vassella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants