Straight after the turn: The role of the parietal lobes in egocentric space processing

Authors: Seubert, Janina¹; Humphreys, Glyn²; Muller, Hermann³; Gramann, Klaus⁴

Source: Neurocase, Volume 14, Number 2, April 2008 , pp. 204-219(16)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

Spatial information processing with respect to an egocentric reference frame has been shown to recruit a fronto-parietal network along the dorsal stream. The present study investigates how brain lesions in the relevant areas affect the ability to navigate through computer-simulated tunnels shown from a first person perspective. Our results suggest that parietal, but not frontal, patients are impaired in this task. They confused the direction of tunnel turns more frequently and made less accurate judgments about the location of the end position. Errors in map drawing suggest that the impairment may be linked to deficits in updating cognitive heading in the absence of corresponding perceptual information from the virtual environment.

Keywords: Virtual environment; Spatial navigation; Spatial processing; Visual flow; Parietal lobe

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13554790802108398

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, General and Experimental Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany 2: Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK 3: Department of Psychology, General and Experimental Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany 4: Department of Psychology, General and Experimental Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany,Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

Publication date: 2008-04-01