Cerebellar lesions disrupt spatial and temporal visual attention

The current study represents the first comprehensive examination of spatial, temporal and sustained attention following cerebellar damage. Results indicated that, compared to controls, cerebellar damage resulted in a larger cueing effect at the longest SOA -possibly reflecting a slowed the onset of inhibition of return (IOR) during a reflexive covert attention task, and reduced the ability to detect successive targets during an attentional blink task. However, there was little evidence to support the notion that cerebellar damage disrupted voluntary covert attention or the sustained attention to response task (SART). Lesion overlay data and supplementary voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) analyses indicated that impaired performance on the reflexive covert attention and attentional blink tasks were related to damage to Crus II of the left posterior cerebellum. In addition, subsequent analyses indicated our results are not due to either general motor impairments or to damage to the deep cerebellar nuclei. Collectively these data demonstrate, for the first time, that the same cerebellar regions may be involved in both spatial and temporal visual attention. Crown Copyright (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigated the impact of cerebellar damage on spatial, temporal, and sustained attention for the first time. Results showed that cerebellar damage affected reflexive covert attention and attentional blink tasks, but not voluntary covert attention or the sustained attention to response task. Damage to Crus II of the left posterior cerebellum was associated with impaired performance on certain attention tasks. These findings suggest that specific cerebellar regions may play a role in both spatial and temporal visual attention.