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Characteristics of contralesional and ipsilesional saccades in hemianopic patients

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Abstract

In order to further our understanding of action-blindsight, four hemianopic patients suffering from visual field loss contralateral to a unilateral occipital lesion were compared to six healthy controls during a double task of verbally reported target detection and saccadic responses toward the target. Three oculomotor tasks were used: a fixation task (i.e., without saccade) and two saccade tasks (eliciting reflexive and voluntary saccades, using step and overlap 600 ms paradigms, respectively), in separate sessions. The visual target was briefly presented at two different eccentricities (5° and 8°), in the right or left visual hemifield. Blank trials were interleaved with target trials, and signal detection theory was applied. Despite their hemifield defect, hemianopic patients retained the ability to direct a saccade toward their contralesional hemifield, whereas verbal detection reports were at chance level. However, saccade parameters (latency and amplitude) were altered by the defect. Saccades to the contralesional hemifield exhibited longer latencies and shorter amplitudes compared to those of the healthy group, whereas only the latencies of reflexive saccades to the ipsilesional hemifield were altered. Furthermore, healthy participants showed the expected latency difference between reflexive and voluntary saccades, with the latter longer than the former. This difference was not found in three out of four patients in either hemifield. Our results show action-blindsight for saccades, but also show that unilateral occipital lesions have effects on saccade generation in both visual hemifields.

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Notes

  1. In the overlap procedure, the fixation point remains visible after the target’s appearance, either throughout the trial (cf. Leigh and Zee 2006, p110) or for a fixed duration of overlap (cf. Becker 1991, p114), the go signal being the target onset or the fixation point offset, respectively. The question of whether overlap saccades belong to the category of voluntary saccades is a matter of debate. Studies on saccadic adaptation have provided arguments that saccades elicited with an overlap procedure (durations above 400 ms) can be classified as voluntary, since adaptive changes in step saccades have not been found to transfer to overlap or scanning saccades (Deubel 1995, 1999 see also Collins and Doré-Mazars 2006; Alahyane et al. 2007), whereas adaptation has been found to transfer between overlap and scanning saccades. In order to compare reflexive and voluntary saccades with the most similar possible protocols, we compared saccades elicited by step and 600 ms overlap paradigms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Vision Action Cognition, EAU 01, INC, IUPDP, Institut de Psychologie, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 71 Avenue Edouard Vaillant, 92774, Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France

    Alexandra Fayel, Dorine Vergilino-Perez, Christelle Lemoine & Karine Doré-Mazars

  2. Unité Fonctionnelle Vision et Cognition, Fondation Ophtalmologique A. de Rothschild, 25 rue Manin, 75019, Paris, France

    Sylvie Chokron

  3. Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Perception, UMR 8158, CNRS, INC, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006, Paris, France

    Sylvie Chokron

  4. INSERM U 992, Cognitive Neuroimaging unit F91-191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Céline Cavézian

  5. CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France

    Christelle Lemoine

  6. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    Dorine Vergilino-Perez & Karine Doré-Mazars

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  1. Alexandra Fayel
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Correspondence to Karine Doré-Mazars.

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Fayel, A., Chokron, S., Cavézian, C. et al. Characteristics of contralesional and ipsilesional saccades in hemianopic patients. Exp Brain Res 232, 903–917 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3803-y

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