Article

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to slower reaction times to targets presented
at previously stimulated or inspected locations. This phenomenon biases orienting
towards novel locations and is functional to an effective exploration of the
environment. Patients with right brain damage and left visual neglect explore
their environment asymmetrically, with strong difficulties to orient attention to
left-sided objects. We show for the first time a dissociation between manual and
saccadic IOR in neglect. Our patients demonstrated facilitation, instead of
inhibition, for repeated right-sided targets with manual responses, but normal
IOR to right-sided targets with saccadic responses. All neglect patients had
damage to the supramarginal gyrus in the right parietal lobe, or to its
connections with the ipsilateral prefrontal cortex. We concluded that IOR with
manual responses relies on fronto-parietal attentional networks in the right
hemisphere, whose functioning is typically impaired in neglect patients. Saccadic
IOR may instead depend on circuits less likely to be damaged in neglect, such as
the retinotectal visual pathway.
CI - Copyright A(c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS