On some peculiarities of the visuomotor system in visual agnosia

Abstract A photo-optical oculographic technique was used to investigate visual fixation, gaze shifting and tracking a moving target in five patients with unilateral or bilateral occipital lobe softenings. In all cases no obvious clinical evidence of Balint's syndrome was found. However, oculography revealed marked disturbances of visual fixation and tracking in two of the five observed cases. The revealed disturbances were compared with the cardinal clinical signs of Balint's syndrome and they were regarded as an oculographic manifestation of a minor form of Balint's psychic paralysis of visual fixation. The relation of the visuomotor disturbances to a right occipital lesion is discussed.