Semantic processing in the neglected visual field: Evidence from a lexical decision task

Abstract The present study examined the possibility of a dissociation between visual information processing and conscious awareness of that processing in patients with unilateral visual neglect. Implicit processing of visual information was measured in the context of a semantic priming task (Experiment 1) in which patients made lexical decisions to centrally located targets following the presentation of lateralised picture primes. Like normal controls, patients with unilateral neglect showed equivalent priming when related picture primes were presented to the left or to the right visual field. This contrasts with the performance of a patient with a dense left hemianopia without neglect who did not show priming from the affected field.

[1]  S. E. Blumstein,et al.  Processing of lexical ambiguities in aphasia , 1987, Brain and Language.

[2]  A Treisman,et al.  Feature analysis in early vision: evidence from search asymmetries. , 1988, Psychological review.

[3]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  On the relation between memory and consciousness: Dissociable interactions and conscious experience. , 1989 .

[4]  M. Verfaellie,et al.  Effects of changes in stimulus contingency on visual extinction , 1990, Neurology.

[5]  John C. Marshall,et al.  When Right Goes Left: An Investigation of Line Bisection in a Case of Visual Neglect , 1989, Cortex.

[6]  Elizabeth K. Warrington,et al.  A variety of reading disability associated with right hemisphere lesions , 1962 .

[7]  N. Charness,et al.  Learning of a Complex Arithmetic Skill in Dementia: Further Evidence for a Dissociation Between Compilation and Production , 1989, Cortex.

[8]  M. Mesulam,et al.  Right cerebral dominance in spatial attention. Further evidence based on ipsilateral neglect. , 1987, Archives of neurology.

[9]  M. Kinsbourne.  Mechanisms of Unilateral Neglect , 1987 .

[10]  F. J. Friedrich,et al.  Effects of parietal injury on covert orienting of attention , 1984, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[11]  A. Young,et al.  Face recognition without awareness , 1987 .

[12]  Kenneth M. Heilman,et al.  Hemispace and Hemispatial Neglect , 1987 .

[13]  K M Heilman,et al.  Hemispatial visual inattention masquerading as hemianopia , 1989, Neurology.

[14]  S. Blumstein,et al.  Lexical decision and aphasia: Evidence for semantic processing , 1981, Brain and Language.

[15]  L. Weiskrantz.  Blindsight : a case study and implications , 1986 .

[16]  Sheila E. Blumstein,et al.  Semantic processing in aphasia: Evidence from an auditory lexical decision task , 1982, Brain and Language.

[17]  David Marr,et al.  VISION A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information , 2009 .

[18]  Kenneth M. Heilman,et al.  Hemispatial neglect affected by non‐neglected stimuli , 1988, Neurology.

[19]  J. Marshall,et al.  Blindsight and insight in visuo-spatial neglect , 1988, Nature.

[20]  Neil Charness,et al.  Teaching an amnesic a complex cognitive skill , 1988, Brain and Cognition.

[21]  Daniel Bub,et al.  Visual neglect and left-sided context effects , 1991, Brain and Cognition.

[22]  R. Burchfield.  Frequency Analysis of English Usage: Lexicon and Grammar. By W. Nelson Francis and Henry Kučera with the assistance of Andrew W. Mackie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1982. x + 561 , 1985 .

[23]  D. Tranel,et al.  Awareness of disease states following cerebral infarction, dementia, and head trauma: Standardized assessment , 1989 .

[24]  R. Bauer,et al.  Autonomic recognition of names and faces in prosopagnosia: A neuropsychological application of the guilty knowledge test , 1984, Neuropsychologia.

[25]  M. Kinsbourne,et al.  A model for the mechanism of unilateral neglect of space. , 1970, Transactions of the American Neurological Association.

[26]  Glyn W. Humphreys,et al.  Perceptual and Action Systems in Unilateral Visual Neglect , 1987 .

[27]  A. Young,et al.  Disentangling neglect and hemianopia , 1991, Neuropsychologia.

[28]  J. G. Snodgrass,et al.  A standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. , 1980 .

[29]  A P Shimamura,et al.  Priming Effects in Amnesia: Evidence for a Dissociable Memory Function , 1986, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[30]  A. Young,et al.  “Neglect dyslexia” and the early visual processing of letters in words and nonwords , 1987 .

[31]  Weinstein Ea,et al.  Hemi-inattention and hemisphere specialization: introduction and historical review. , 1977 .

[32]  Donald E. Broadbent,et al.  Decision and stress , 1971 .

[33]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Computer learning by memory-impaired patients: Acquisition and retention of complex knowledge , 1986, Neuropsychologia.

[34]  D. Perani,et al.  Brain and conscious representation of outside reality , 1981, Neuropsychologia.

[35]  A. Marcel.  Conscious and unconscious perception: Experiments on visual masking and word recognition , 1983, Cognitive Psychology.

[36]  I. Biederman.  Recognition-by-components: a theory of human image understanding. , 1987, Psychological review.

[37]  B. Milner,et al.  Further analysis of the hippocampal amnesic syndrome: 14-year follow-up study of H.M.☆ , 1968 .

[38]  M. Alexander,et al.  Learning of a complex arithmetic skill in amnesia: Evidence for a dissociation between compilation and production , 1988, Brain and Cognition.

[39]  Information processing deficits and aphasia , 1988 .

[40]  M. Farah,et al.  Unconscious perception of “extinguished” visual stimuli: Reassessing the evidence , 1991, Neuropsychologia.

[41]  Joseph E LeDoux,et al.  Information processing of visual stimuli in an ‘extinguished’ field , 1979, Nature.

[42]  A. Witkin,et al.  On the Role of Structure in Vision , 1983 .