title: Speeded manual responses to unseen visual stimuli in hemianopic patients: what kind of blindsight?
abstract: Blindsight, i.e., unconscious visually guided behaviour triggered by stimuli presented to a cortically blind hemifield, has been typically found either by using direct (forced choice) or indirect (interhemispheric) methods. However, one would expect to find blindsight also in fast responses to suddenly appearing visual stimuli, a reminiscence of evolutionary ancient adaptive behaviour. In this study we provide preliminary evidence of this form of blindsight by using a conservative method for assessing blindsight based on a comparison between the cumulative probability functions (CPFs) of simple reaction times to blind and intact field stimuli. Furthermore, in two patients with blindsight we provided evidence that their above-chance unconscious responses were likely to be triggered by the intact hemisphere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; Department of Psychology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy; Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, and CoRPS - Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic diseases - Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Celeghin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Cognitive Neurology, Centre for Neurology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barabas
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; Rehabilitation Unit, Zevio Hospital, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mancini
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, Treviso Hospital, Treviso, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bendini
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pedrotti
authors.affiliation: ASL 8 Asolo, Italy and University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.affiliation: Brain Care and University of Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cantagallo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy. Electronic address: carloalberto.marzi@univr.it.
authors.forename: Carlo A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Marzi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006423:Hemianopsia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Interhemispheric transfer; Perceptual awareness; Poffenberger paradigm; Reaction time