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. 2015 Aug 4:6:1119.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01119. eCollection 2015.

Space-based and object-centered gaze cuing of attention in right hemisphere-damaged patients

Mario Dalmaso  1 , Luigi Castelli  2 , Konstantinos Priftis  3 , Marta Buccheri  1 , Daniela Primon  4 , Silvia Tronco  4 , Giovanni Galfano  2
Affiliations

Space-based and object-centered gaze cuing of attention in right hemisphere-damaged patients

Mario Dalmaso et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Gaze cuing of attention is a well established phenomenon consisting of the tendency to shift attention to the location signaled by the averted gaze of other individuals. Evidence suggests that such phenomenon might follow intrinsic object-centered features of the head containing the gaze cue. In the present exploratory study, we aimed to investigate whether such object-centered component is present in neuropsychological patients with a lesion involving the right hemisphere, which is known to play a critical role both in orienting of attention and in face processing. To this purpose, we used a modified gaze-cuing paradigm in which a centrally placed head with averted gaze was presented either in the standard upright position or rotated 90° clockwise or anti-clockwise. Afterward, a to-be-detected target was presented either in the right or in the left hemifield. The results showed that gaze cuing of attention was present only when the target appeared in the left visual hemifield and was not modulated by head orientation. This suggests that gaze cuing of attention in right hemisphere-damaged patients can operate within different frames of reference.

Keywords: gaze cuing; hemispheric asymmetry; object-centered attention; right hemisphere-damaged patients; social cognition.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Stimuli (not drawn to scale) and sequence of events for (A) an incongruent trial with a head oriented upright (space-based frame), (B) a congruent trial with a head oriented clockwise (object-centered frame), and (C) an incongruent trial with a head oriented anti-clockwise (object-centered frame).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Mean reaction times (RTs) for all conditions in Experiment 1. Asterisks denote p < 0.05. Error bars are SEM.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Magnetic resonance imaging and Computed Tomography scans of right hemisphere-damaged patients. The right hemisphere is displayed on the right in each brain scan.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Mean RTs in left and right hemifield in right hemisphere-damaged patients vs. healthy controls. Asterisks denote p < 0.05. NS, Non-Significant; Error bars are SEM.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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