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Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of monocular vision on
spatial attention in normal subjects. BACKGROUND: Observations in
primates and patients have suggested that patching one eye can
alter the relative activity of hemispheric attentional systems. Eye
patching is thought to decrease activity of the contralateral
colliculus and release ipsilateral collicular and hemispheric
attentional systems from inhibition. METHODS: Young normal adults,
categorized according to eye dominance, bisected lines in the
radial orientation with left and right eye occlusion. In experiment
1, seventeen subjects of differing eye dominance bisected radial
lines in central space. In experiment 2, seventeen right eye
dominant subjects bisected lines in left and right hemispace.
RESULTS: Right eye dominant subjects had a significantly greater
far bias on line bisection using the left eye than using the right
eye in central space. Left eye dominant subjects showed the
reverse. Right eye dominant subjects, using the left eye, had a
significantly greater far bias in left space compared to right
space, whereas bias was not affected by space with the right eye.
CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that use of one eye is associated
with preferential activation of attentional systems in the
contralateral hemisphere and that the right hemisphere (in right
eye dominant subjects) is biased towards far space. The results
also suggest that eye dominance may be related to hemispheric
specialization for visual attention.
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