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Abstract:
A patient with a lesion largely confined to the right
ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) was assessed on a range of
oculomotor paradigms (anti-saccade, delayed, memory-guided saccade
and fixation tasks) and on tests of working memory (from the
Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery).
Results
The patient was unable to suppress making reflexive glances to
peripheral stimuli on the anti-saccade paradigm. He could, however,
suppress his reflexive glances to a variable degree when tested on
delayed-saccade, memory-guided saccade and maintain fixation
paradigms. His performance on an anti-pointing task was flawless.
The patient was shown to be severely impaired on tests of spatial
working memory and executive functioning. By contrast, his scores
on spatial span and spatial recognition tests were within the
normal range and his performance on the pattern recognition test
was good.
Conclusion
The patient showed severe impairments on spatial working memory
tasks and on the anti-saccade paradigm and it is suggested that his
deficits may be related to situations where information has to be
held 'on-line'. The findings are related to recent functional
imaging studies which have implicated the VLPFC in this
role.
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