title: Visual consciousness explained by its impairments.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The scientific study of the visual consciousness has been marked by significant recent achievements, resulting from an interaction between the exploration of cognition in both brain-damaged patients and healthy individuals. Several neuropsychological syndromes contain marked dissociations which permit the identification of principles related to the neurophysiology of consciousness. The generality of these principles can then be evaluated in healthy individuals using a combination of experimental psychology paradigms, and functional brain-imaging tools.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this article, I review major findings originating from the exploration of neuropsychological syndromes such as 'blindsight', visual form agnosia, optic ataxia, and neglect, and explain how they can be accounted for by a 'global workspace' model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results constitute important constraints for neural theories of consciousness, and they are crucial to help clinicians handle patients affected with complex neurovisual disorders.
authors.affiliation: aINSERM, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière bUniversité Pierre et Marie Curie, Faculté de Médecine Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Naccache
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*