Inhibitory and facilitatory location priming in patients with left-sided visual hemi-neglect.
In visual search for pop-out targets, reaction times are facilitated when the target on the current trial appears at a previous target location, and inhibited when it appears at a previous distractor location, relative to when it appears at a previously empty (neutral) location (Maljkovic and Nakayama, Perception and Psychophysics 58:977-991, 1996). However, while normal subjects are able to positively/negatively tag selected target/rejected distractor locations to guide search on the next trial, patients with visual hemi-neglect may have a (uni- or bilateral) deficit in these functions that may contribute to their disturbed visual scanning behavior. To examine this, using a pop-out search task, the present study assessed cross-trial facilitatory and inhibitory priming in 14 patients with left-sided visual hemi-neglect and in 14 age-, education-, and IQ-matched control subjects. The group of neglect patients did show significant facilitatory and inhibitory priming. However, while control subjects exhibited balanced effects of facilitation and inhibition, inhibition was relatively reduced in magnitude in neglect patients. In particular, inhibition was virtually absent in two patients with lesions affecting superior regions of the frontal cortex, putatively encroaching on the frontal eye field of the right hemisphere. These findings provide neuropsychological evidence that facilitatory and inhibitory priming effects are based on dissociable mechanisms, consistent with Geyer et al. (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 33:788-797, 2007).
Finke
Kathrin
K
Department Psychology, General and Experimental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany. finke@psy.uni-muenchen.de
Bucher
Leandra
L
Kerkhoff
Georg
G
Keller
Ingo
I
von Rosen
Friedrich
F
Geyer
Thomas
T
Müller
Hermann
H
Bublak
Peter
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*