Non-spatial attention engagement in Neglect patients

According to the most recent studies, the non-spatial, temporal attention disengagement -measured by the attentional blink- is impaired in neglect patients. However, it is far to be clear whether the mechanism of temporal attentional engagement is also impaired in neglect patients. In order to investigate the temporal attentional engagement, two experiments were conducted in a sample of 19 patients with right cerebrovascular lesion (9 with Neglect: N+ and 10 without Neglect: N-) and 9 healthy controls (C). We measured the backward masking as well as the para-contrast masking for centrally presented stimuli. The results showed a specific impairment of the non-spatial attentional engagement in N+. Precisely, N+ showed both a deeper backward and paracontrast masking and a sluggish backward and para-contrast masking recovery in comparison with the two control groups (N- and C). These results suggest that the non-spatial disengagement deficits -typically associated with neglect- could be explained by postulating a primary attentional engagement deficit of the “When” system, controlled by the right inferior parietal cortex.