title: A world unglued: simultanagnosia as a spatial restriction of attention.
abstract: Simultanagnosia is a disorder of visual attention that leaves a patient's world unglued: scenes and objects are perceived in a piecemeal manner. It is generally agreed that simultanagnosia is related to an impairment of attention, but it is unclear whether this impairment is object- or space-based in nature. We first consider the findings that support a concept of simultanagnosia as deficit of object-based attention. We then examine the evidence suggesting that simultanagnosia results from damage to a space-based attentional system, and in particular a model of simultanagnosia as a narrowed spatial window of attention. We ask whether seemingly object-based deficits can be explained by space-based mechanisms, and consider the evidence that object processing influences spatial deficits in this condition. Finally, we discuss limitations of a space-based attentional explanation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College Hanover, NH, USA ; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London London, UK.
authors.forename: Kirsten A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Dalrymple
authors.forename: Jason J S
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kingstone
keywords: Bálint syndrome; object-based attention; simultanagnosia; space-based attention; vision