Author/Editor		Pirtošek, Z; Barrett, G; Lees, AJ
Title		Seeing not just watching: poststriate cognitive processing of visual signals
Type		članek
Source		Zdrav Vestn
Vol. and No.		Letnik 62, št. Suppl 1
Publication year		1993
Volume		str. 39-43
Language		eng
Abstract		Visual information leaving the retina travels along the retinotectal and geniculostriate pathways to the primary visual cortex. In post-striate areas visual signals are further processed in the posterior parietal lobe (spatial location and sensorimotor transformations) and in the inferotemporal cortex (perceptual identification of non-spatial features). Relevant signals are selected by attentional mechanisms in these posterior brain areas. More sustained and sophisticated attention activates the anterior attentional modules in right prefrontal areas. Patients with Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome (SRO) present clinically with a prominent attentional disorder. Reaction time studies suggest that covert orienting of visual attention is impaired in the vertical plane in this syndrome, and that the lesion responsible is located in midbrain retinotectal pathways. We used event-related potentials to study orienting of visual and auditory attention in a group of patients with SRO. Inability to suitch attention was found in both modalities, and orienting of attention was impaired in the horizontal plane. These data provide evidence that the disorder of attention in SRO is global and associated with anterior attentional modules.
Descriptors		VISUAL PERCEPTION SUPRANUCLEAR PALSY, PROGRESSIVE EVOKED POTENTIALS, VISUAL VISUAL CORTEX ATTENTION