Visual search patterns in semantic dementia show paradoxical facilitation of binding processes.

ABSTRACT: While patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show deficits in attention, manifested by inefficient performance on visual search, new visual talents can emerge in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), suggesting that, at least in some of the patients, visual attention is spared, if not enhanced. To investigate the underlying mechanisms for visual talent in FTLD (behavioral variant FTD [bvFTD] and semantic dementia [SD]) patients, we measured performance on a visual search paradigm that includes both feature and conjunction search, while simultaneously monitoring saccadic eye movements. AD patients were impaired relative to healthy controls (NC) and FTLD patients on both feature and conjunction search. BvFTD patients showed less accurate performance only on the conjunction

SUBMITTER: Viskontas IV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3046767 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature