Now you see it, now you don't: variable hemineglect in a commissurotomized man.

Full Abstract

We describe the case of a callosotomized man, D.D.V., who shows unusual neglect of stimuli in the left visual field (LVF). This is manifest in simple reaction time (RT) to stimuli flashed in the LVF and in judging whether pairs of filled circles in the LVF are of the same or different color. It may reflect strong left-hemispheric control and consequent attention restricted to the right side of space. It is not evident in simple RT when there are continuous markers in the visual fields to indicate the locations of the stimuli. In this condition, his RTs are actually faster to LVF than to right visual field (RVF) stimuli, suggesting a switch to right-hemispheric control that eliminates the hemineglect. Neglect is also not evident when D.D.V. responds by pointing to or touching the locations of the stimuli, perhaps because these responses are controlled by the dorsal rather than the ventral visual system. Despite his atypical manifestations of hemineglect, D.D.V. showed evidence of functional disconnection typical of split-brained subjects, including prolonged crossed-uncrossed different in simple reaction time, inability to match colors between visual fields, and enhanced redundancy gain in simple RT to bilateral stimuli even when the stimulus in the LVF was neglected.

Author information

Author/s: Corballis, Michael C (MC); Corballis, Paul M (PM); Fabri, Mara (M); Paggi, Aldo (A); Manzoni, Tullio (T);

Affiliation: Research Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. m.corballis(-atsign-)auckland.ac.nz

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Case Reports; Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Brain research. Cognitive brain research (Brain Res Cogn Brain Res), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-Oct; vol 25 (issue 2) : pp 521-30

Dates: Created 2005/10/17; Completed 2006/01/20; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16154728, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.