NEUROBEHAVIORAL RESEARCH GROUP

Statistical Parametric Maps of echo planar imaging blood oxygen level dependent (EPI-BOLD) fMRI activity (visualized at p< 0.01) associated with palinoptic afterimages demonstrating a neural network consisting of: (a) cingulate; (b) medial frontal; (c) right parietal; (d) putamen and; (e) caudate.

Visual Disturbance and Attention

Palinopsia (Greek palin, again and opsis, vision), is a visual phenomenon marked by perseveration (“after-images”) that has been associated with a variety of clinical syndromes since initial case reports and early clinical investigations.  Though isolated fMRI findings implicate parieto-occipital projections, mechanistic data regarding visual disturbances remain scant due to methodological challenges inherent to studying visual hallucinatory states. Without specific imaging studies, the mechanism of syndrome formation in palinopsia remains speculative. Preliminary work in our lab has demonstrated that Palinopsia is associated with frontal, parietal, and striatal activations, comprising a neural network implicated in general visual attention and comprising components previously associated with visual hallucinations, specifically.