Usability of a theory of visual attention (TVA) for parameter-based measurement of attention II: evidence from two patients with frontal or parietal damage.
Based on a 'Theory of Visual Attention' (TVA), whole and partial report of brief letter arrays is presented as a diagnostic tool to estimate four clinically significant attentional components: perceptual processing speed, visual working memory storage capacity, efficiency of top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention. The procedure used was short enough to be applicable within a standard clinical setting. Two brain-damaged patients, selected based on lesion location and neuropsychological test profile, were compared to a control group of 22 healthy subjects. One patient with a right inferior parietal lesion showed a pattern of non-spatially and spatially lateralized attention deficits that is typically found in neglect patients. Results from the second patient supported the decisive role of superior frontal brain structures for top-down control of visual attention. This double dissociation supports the hypothesis that, even with a short version of whole and partial report, valid and meaningful results can be obtained in the neuropsychological assessment of attention deficits. The potential and constraints of TVA-based parameter estimation for the clinical application are discussed.
Bublak
Peter
P
General and Experimental Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany. peter.bublak@med.uni-jena.de
Finke
Kathrin
K
Krummenacher
Joseph
J
Preger
Rudolf
R
Kyllingsbaek
Søren
S
Müller
Hermann J
HJ
Schneider
Werner X
WX
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D020863:Central Nervous System Cysts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*