Biomedical subjects

Rebecca Hefter

Publications and source records attributed to Rebecca Hefter.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Switching, plasticity, and prediction in a saccadic task-switch paradigm.

Several cognitive processes are involved in task-switching. Using a prosaccade/antisaccade paradigm, we manipulated both the interval available for preparation between the cue and the target and the predictability of trial sequences, to isolate the contributions of foreknowledge, an active switching (reconfiguration) process, and passive inhibitory effects persisting from the prior trial. We tested 15 subjects with both a random and a regularly alternating trial sequence. Half of the trials had a short cue-target interval of 200 ms, and half a longer cue-target interval of 2,000 ms. When there was only a short preparatory interval, switching increased the latencies for both prosaccades and antisaccades. With a long preparatory interval, switching was associated with a smaller latency increase for prosaccades and, importantly, a paradoxical reduction in latency for antisaccades. Foreknowledge of a predictable sequence did not allow subjects to reduce switch costs in the manner that a long preparatory cue-target interval did. In the trials with short preparatory intervals, the effects on latency attributable to active reconfiguration processes were similar for prosaccades and antisaccades. We propose a model in which the passive inhibitory effects that persist from the prior saccadic trial are due not to task-set inertia, in which one task-set inhibits the opposite task-set, but to inhibition of the saccadic response-system by the antisaccade task, to account for the paradoxical set-switch benefit for antisaccades at long cue-target intervals. Our findings regarding foreknowledge show that previous studies used to support task-set inertia may have conflated the effects of both active reconfiguration and passive inhibitory processes on latency. While our model of response-system plasticity can explain a number of effects of dominance asymmetry in switching, other models fail to account for the paradoxical set-switch benefit for antisaccades.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

The field defects of anterior temporal lobectomy: a quantitative reassessment of Meyer's loop.

Temporal lobectomy is often complicated by superior quadrantanopia. The relation of field loss to sagittal resection length can inform us about the functional anatomy of Meyer's loop, with ramifications for surgical planning. However, the literature has produced highly variable results. We studied 29 patients with anterior temporal lobectomies using Goldmann perimetry. 24 patients had post-operating neuroimaging, with which we assessed resection length relative to each patient's temporo-occipital dimensions. For the field defect we calculated the proportion of area lost for three isopters. We found a significant correlation between resection size and field loss for both nasal and temporal defects. Linear regressions suggested an anterior limit of Meyer's loop at 24 to 28 mm from the anterior temporal pole, and involvement of the lower quadrant when resections reached 70 to 79 mm, with significant inter-subject variability. The nasal defect was 15% greater than the temporal defect for all degrees of quadrantanopia, with no difference between right and left hemispheres. Macular involvement began when field defects reached 61% of quadrant area, corresponding to a resection of about 58 mm. Patterns of field loss showed that the lower margins were most often horizontal or with a slight slope towards fixation, rather than true wedge defects. We conclude that field loss is related to resection length and that Meyer's loop extends more anteriorly than estimated in traditional surgical studies, in agreement with modern MRI and dissection studies. The patterns of field loss support a revised retinotopic model in which the most anterior fibers of Meyer's loop represent the superior field, not the vertical meridian as traditionally proposed.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

The covert priming effect of faces in prosopagnosia.

BACKGROUND: There are many methods of testing covert face recognition in prosopagnosia, but it is not clear whether different types of covert recognition share a common mechanism. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether direct forced-choice techniques and indirect face-priming methods yielded similar behavioral estimates of covert ability in a series of prosopagnosic patients. METHODS: The authors tested seven control subjects and seven prosopagnosic patients. Six patients had an apperceptive prosopagnosia: one with childhood onset, three with bilateral lesions, and two with unilateral occipitotemporal lesions. The last had an associative prosopagnosia from bilateral anterior temporal lesions. The direct tests of covert function involved sorting faces by occupation or the forced choosing of which of two faces was famous with a name cue. The indirect test assessed name classification by occupation after priming with a facial stimulus. RESULTS: In normal subjects, the chief priming effect was facilitation by the true face. In the six patients with apperceptive prosopagnosia, direct covert measures were correlated with the face-priming effect, with better covert ability in patients with unilateral posterior lesions. In the patient with associative prosopagnosia, there was a dissociation between excellent direct covert function and absent face priming. CONCLUSIONS: Direct and indirect covert functions likely share similar mechanisms in patients with apperceptive prosopagnosia and may reflect residual activity in anterior and left hemispheric components of the normal face-processing network. However, face priming may be ineffectual in patients with severely degraded facial memories from anterior temporal damage. This may indicate a difference between residual patterns of face-related activity in associative and apperceptive prosopagnosia.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Are patients with social developmental disorders prosopagnosic? Perceptual heterogeneity in the Asperger and socio-emotional processing disorders.

It has been hypothesized that social developmental disorders (SDD) like autism, Asperger's disorder and the social-emotional processing disorder may be associated with prosopagnosic-like deficits in face recognition. We studied the ability to recognize famous faces in 24 adults with a variety of SDD diagnoses. We also measured their ability to discriminate changes in internal facial configuration, a perceptual function that is important in face recognition, and their imagery for famous faces, an index of their facial memory stores. We contrasted their performance with both healthy subjects and prosopagnosic patients. We also performed a cluster analysis of the SDD patients. One group of eight SDD subjects performed normally on all tests of face perception and recognition. The other 16 subjects were impaired in recognition, though most were better than prosopagnosic patients. One impaired SDD subgroup had poor perception of facial structure but relatively preserved imagery, resembling prosopagnosic patients with medial occipitotemporal lesions. Another subgroup had better perception than imagery, resembling one prosopagnosic with bilateral anterior temporal lesions. Overall, SDD subgroup membership by face recognition did not correlate with a particular SDD diagnosis or subjective ratings of social impairment. We conclude that the social disturbance in SDD does not invariably lead to impaired face recognition. Abnormal face recognition in some SDD subjects is related to impaired perception of facial structure in a manner suggestive of occipitotemporal dysfunction. Heterogeneity in the perceptual processing of faces may imply pathogenetic heterogeneity, with important implications for genetic and rehabilitative studies of SDD.

Adolescent↗