A World Unglued: Simultanagnosia As A Spatial Restriction Of Attention

Authors

Kirsten A. Dalrymple, Dartmouth CollegeFollow
Jason J.S. Barton, University of British ColumbiaFollow
Alan Kingstone, University of British Columbia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-17-2013

Publication Title

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Department

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Abstract

Simultanagnosia is a disorder of visual attention that leaves a patient’s world unglued: scenes and objects are perceived in a piecemeal manner. It is generally agreed that simultanagnosia is related to an impairment of attention, but it is unclear whether this impairment is object- or space-based in nature. We first consider the findings that support a concept of simultanagnosia as deficit of object-based attention. We then examine the evidence suggesting that simultanagnosia results from damage to a space-based attentional system, and in particular a model of simultanagnosia as a narrowed spatial window of attention. We ask whether seemingly object-based deficits can be explained by space-based mechanisms, and consider the evidence that object processing influences spatial deficits in this condition. Finally, we discuss limitations of a space-based attentional explanation.

DOI

10.3389/fnhum.2013.00145

Original Citation

Dalrymple KA, Barton JJ, Kingstone A. A world unglued: simultanagnosia as a spatial restriction of attention. Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Apr 17;7:145. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00145. PMID: 23616758; PMCID: PMC3627977.

Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation

Dalrymple, Kirsten A.; Barton, Jason J.S.; and Kingstone, Alan, "A World Unglued: Simultanagnosia As A Spatial Restriction Of Attention" (2013). Dartmouth Scholarship. 2518.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/2518