Impairments in orienting to visual stimuli in monkeys following unilateral lesions of the superior sulcal polysensory cortex

Abstract

Monkeys were tested for head and eye orientation to illuminated lamps in a hemisphere before and after serial, unilateral lesions of the polysensory superior temporal cortex (STS) or control lesions. Following STS lesions they were impaired in orienting to contralateral lamps; this impairment was more severe and persistent when a ipsilateral stimulus in the mirror-image position was simultaneously presented. These findings, together with deficits in manual reaching and grasping observed following STS lesions, support the view that the STS is part of a polysensory system controlling attention and exploratory movements.