Systematic retinotopic reaching error vectors in unilateral optic ataxia

The main aim of this study is to determine the reference frame of the pointing errors that characterize patients with unilateral optic ataxia (OA). The reaching errors of seven patients with unilateral OA when pointing on a 2D matrix in peripheral vision were investigated in order to better qualify the reference frame of their deficit. Patients were asked to fixate a central target and then to point at one of 24 visual targets presented in their left or right peripheral visual fields, with their left or right hands. The four left and the three right hemisphere lesion patients with OA exhibited an identical pattern of results. In the contralesional visual field, error vectors were systematically directed toward the fixation point, rather than horizontally toward the side of the lesion. OA results from a deficit in transforming targets' eye-centred coordinates into appropriate motor commands.