Skip to main content
Log in

Attention, competition, and the parietal lobes: insights from Balint’s syndrome

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Psychological Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Simultanagnosia (resulting from occipito-parietal damage) is a profound visual deficit, which impairs the ability to perceive multiple items in a visual display, while preserving the ability to recognise single objects. Here we demonstrate in a patient presenting with Balint’s syndrome that this deficit may result from an extreme form of competition between objects which makes it difficult for attention to be disengaged from an object once it has been selected.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bálint, R. (1909). Seelenlähmung des ‘schauens’, optische ataxie, räumliche störung der aufmerksamkeit. Monattsschrifte für Psychiatrische Neurologie, 25, 51–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, A. C. G., & Humphreys, G. W. (2000). Coding space within but not between objects: Evidence from Balint’s syndrome. Neuropsychologia, 38, 723–733.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, J., Humphreys, G. W., & Ward, R. (1997). Competitive brain activity in visual attention. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 7, 255–261.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, G. M., Swainson, R., Mort, D., Husain, M., & Jackson, S. R. (2004). Implicit processing of global information in Balint’s Syndrome. Cortex, 40, 177–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S. R., Newport, R., Mort, D., & Husain, M. (2005a). Where the eye looks, the hand follows: Limb-dependent magnetic misreaching in optic ataxia. Current Biology, 15, 42–46.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S. R., Newport, R., Mort, D., Husain, M., Jackson, G. M., Swainson, R., et al. (2005b). Action binding and the parietal lobes: Some new perspectives on optic ataxia. In G. W. Humphreys & M. J. Riddoch (Eds.), Attention in action. London: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, G. M., Shepherd, T., Mueller, S. C., Husain, M., & Jackson, S. R. (2006). Dorsal simultanagnosia: An impairment of visual processing or visual awareness? Cortex, 42, 740–749.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Navon, D. (1981). The forest revisited: More on global precedence. Psychological Research, 43, 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavese, A., Coslett, H. B., Saffran, E., & Buxbaum, L. (2002). Limitations of attentional orienting. Effects of abrupt visual onsets and offsets on naming two objects in a patient with simultanagnosia. Neuropsychologia, 40, 1097–1103.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, L. C. (2003). Binding, spatial attention and perceptual awareness. Nature Neuroscience, 4, 93–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rorden, C., Mattingley, J. B., Karnath, H. O., et al. (1997). Visual extinction and prior entry: Impaired perception of temporal order with intact motion perception after unilateral parietal damage. Neuropsychologia, 35, 421–433.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, A., & Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97–136.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen R. Jackson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jackson, G.M., Swainson, R., Mort, D. et al. Attention, competition, and the parietal lobes: insights from Balint’s syndrome. Psychological Research 73, 263–270 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0210-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-008-0210-2

Keywords

Navigation