ERP EVIDENCE FOR A SHIFTING ATTENTION-DEFICIT IN PATIENTS WITH DAMAGETO THE CEREBELLUM

In a previous study, we found that patients with damage to the neocere bellum were significantly impaired in the ability to rapidly shift the ir attention bem een ongoing sequences of auditory and visual stimuli (Akshoomoff & Courchesne, 1992). In the present study young patients w ith damage to the neocerebellum were found to be impaired in rapidly s hifting their attention between visual stimuli chat occurred within a single location. Event-related potentials recorded during the shifting attention experiment suggested that this reflects a deficit in the co vert ability to selectively activate and deactivate attention. These r esults lend further support to the hypothesis that the neocerebellum p lays a role in the ability to rapidly shift attention.