Citation

Ambron E, Beschin N, Cerrone C, Della Sala S. Arch. Clin. Neuropsychol. 2019; 34(2): 214-221.

Affiliation

Center of Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1093/arclin/acy033

PMID

29688299

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates closing-in behavior (CIB), a phenomenon observed in graphic copying tasks when responses encroach upon or overlap the model. The behavior is most common amongst individuals with dementia and amongst pre-school children. We explored the relationship between CIB and the 'distractor effect' in reaching, whereby salient visual stimuli can influence the spatial trajectory of the reach.

METHOD: A group of individuals with overlap-CIB (n = 9), without CIB (n = 9) and healthy controls (HC; n = 6) underwent a task-irrelevant and a task-relevant distractors and the deviation of the movement trajectory towards the distractor location was measured in both tasks.

RESULTS: Individuals with graphic CIB showed more distractor-directed veering during reaching than did individuals without CIB or HC, provided that the distractor was relevant for the reaching task.

CONCLUSIONS: These results strengthen the relationship between CIB and the distractor effect and reinforce the hypothesis that CIB represents a disinhibited tendency to act towards the focus of attention.

Language: en