Attentional modulation of implicit processing of information in spatial neglect

Abstract

Patients with parietal lesions often fail to identify stimuli in the contralesional field (i.e. neglect) but may nevertheless demonstrate implicit processing of neglected stimuli. Explanations of implicit processing in neglect range from intact preattentive mechanisms, to intact higher level categorical processing. Such theories assume implicit processing in neglect is passive and not subject to attentional modulation. We investigated implicit processing in a neglect patient US) using a flanker task in which targets differed on two dimensions simultaneously (i.e. coloured letters). Controls demonstrated interference effects only from goal-relevant dimensions of flankers. JS showed a similar pattern of results even when flankers appeared in his neglected field, suggesting that implicit processing of neglected stimuli can be modulated by behavioural goals.