Impaired pre-saccadic shifts of attention in neglect patients.

Every saccade is generally preceded by a mandatory shift of attention to the saccade endpoint, allowing us to process visual information more effectively. Whether this 'pre-saccadic shift of attention' is still intact in hemispatial neglect is unknown. Whereas neglect patients exhibit lateralized impairments of attention and often show impaired saccadic behaviour, it is not yet clear how the pre-saccadic shift of attention is affected during accurately executed eye movements.

Congruent movement training as a rehabilitation method to ameliorate symptoms of neglect-proof of concept.

Stroke patients with visuospatial neglect (VSN) have difficulties responding to visual information located in the contralesional hemifield, affecting many daily life activities (ADL) such as eating, reading and mobility. Visual Scanning Therapy (VST) is widely used in clinical practice to ameliorate symptoms of VSN. Yet, not all patients benefit from this training and many training sessions are needed in order to achieve stable results.

Functional connectivity of the Precuneus reflects effectiveness of visual restitution training in chronic hemianopia.

Visual field defects in chronic hemianopia can improve through visual restitution training, yet not all patients benefit equally from this long and exhaustive procedure. Here, we asked if resting-state functional connectivity prior to visual restitution could predict training success. In two training sessions of eight weeks each, 20 patients with chronic hemianopia performed a visual discrimination task by directing spatial selective attention towards stimuli presented in either hemifield, while suppressing eye movements.

Is congruent movement training more effective than standard visual scanning therapy to ameliorate symptoms of visuospatial neglect? Study protocol of a randomised control trial.

Introduction: Approximately 30% of all patients with stroke show visuospatial neglect (VSN). Currently, visual scanning therapy (VST) is applied in clinical settings to attenuate neglect symptoms. VST builds on the premise that eye movements to the affected hemifield lead to a concurrent shift of visual attention.

Human V2A: A map of the peripheral visual hemifield with functional connections to scene-selective cortex.

Humans can recognize a scene in the blink of an eye. This gist-based visual scene perception is thought to be underpinned by specialized visual processing emphasizing the visual periphery at a cortical locus relatively low in the visual processing hierarchy. Using wide-field retinotopic mapping and population receptive field (pRF) modeling, we identified a new visual hemifield map anterior of area V2d and inferior to area V6, which we propose to call area V2A.

Improvement in activities of daily living after visual training in patients with homonymous visual field defects using Goal Attainment Scaling.

Background: Stroke is the most common cause of homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs). Yet, there is no standard protocol for composing a rehabilitation program.

Objective: In this study we assess ADL gain of visual training for vision restoration in HVFD patients by means of Goal Attainment Scaling.

Segregation of Spontaneous and Training Induced Recovery from Visual Field Defects in Subacute Stroke Patients.

Whether rehabilitation after stroke profits from an early start is difficult to establish as the contributions of spontaneous recovery and treatment are difficult to tease apart. Here, we use a novel training design to dissociate these components for visual rehabilitation of subacute stroke patients with visual field defects such as hemianopia. Visual discrimination training was started within 6 weeks after stroke in 17 patients.

Visual Rehabilitation in Chronic Cerebral Blindness: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Study.

The treatment of patients suffering from cerebral blindness following stroke is a topic of much recent interest. Several types of treatment are under investigation, such as substitution with prisms and compensation training of saccades. A third approach, aimed at vision restitution is controversial, as a proper controlled study design is missing.

Dissociable effects of dopamine and serotonin on reversal learning.

Serotonin and dopamine are speculated to subserve motivationally opponent functions, but this hypothesis has not been directly tested. We studied the role of these neurotransmitters in probabilistic reversal learning in nearly 700 individuals as a function of two polymorphisms in the genes encoding the serotonin and dopamine transporters (SERT: 5HTTLPR plus rs25531; DAT1 3'UTR VNTR). A double dissociation was observed.