Visuospatial attention deficit in patients with frontoparietal network lesions: Evidence from the attention network test

Abstract

Objective To probe deficits in visuospatial attention using an attention network test (ANT) in patients with frontoparietal network lesions. Methods The ANT was used to measure the alertness, orienting and executive control abilities of 25 patients with local brain lesions, including 13 with frontal and 12 with parietal damage. Their results were compared with those of health adults. Results During ANT tasks, the patients' responses were significantly slower on each cue and target condition than controls', and showed deficits in their alerting and orienting networks. The efficiency of executive control was impaired in patients with frontal lesions, but increased with parietal lesions. Conclusions These findings suggest that the frontoparietal network is involved in alerting and orienting, but the executive control function may be selectively associated with the frontal lobe. ANT is an efficienttool for studying visual attention and cognition. Key words: Visuospatial attention; Frontoparietal networks; Brain lesions; Attention network tests