Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Exploration of the space around us is a fundamental part of human behaviour. When it breaks down there is an important opportunity to understand its underlying mechanisms. Here we show that many right-hemisphere patients with left neglect re-explore rightward locations, failing to keep track of them during search. Importantly, such re-exploration occurred despite leftward stimuli being indistinguishable in peripheral vision, so it is unlikely to result from implicit processing of neglected targets. Revisits generally occurred after visits to other targets and are therefore not immediate perseverations. Finally, manipulating the visual salience of found targets altered the degree of neglect, but not revisit rates. Space exploration appears to be modulated both by the ability to keep track of spatial locations and by stimulus salience.

Original publication

DOI

10.1097/01.wnr.0000220130.86349.a7

Type

Journal article

Journal

Neuroreport

Publication Date

29/05/2006

Volume

17

Pages

833 - 836

Keywords

Aged, Brain, Exploratory Behavior, Functional Laterality, Humans, Middle Aged, Models, Neurological, Neuropsychological Tests, Orientation, Perceptual Disorders, Photic Stimulation, Space Perception, Visual Pathways