901 resultados para perceptual seamlesness


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Although functional neuroimaging studies have supported the distinction between explicit and implicit forms of memory, few have matched explicit and implicit tests closely, and most of these tested perceptual rather than conceptual implicit memory. We compared event-related fMRI responses during an intentional test, in which a group of participants used a cue word to recall its associate from a prior study phase, with those in an incidental test, in which a different group of participants used the same cue to produce the first associate that came to mind. Both semantic relative to phonemic processing at study, and emotional relative to neutral word pairs, increased target completions in the intentional test, but not in the incidental test, suggesting that behavioral performance in the incidental test was not contaminated by voluntary explicit retrieval. We isolated the neural correlates of successful retrieval by contrasting fMRI responses to studied versus unstudied cues for which the equivalent "target" associate was produced. By comparing the difference in this repetition-related contrast across the intentional and incidental tests, we could identify the correlates of voluntary explicit retrieval. This contrast revealed increased bilateral hippocampal responses in the intentional test, but decreased hippocampal responses in the incidental test. A similar pattern in the bilateral amygdale was further modulated by the emotionality of the word pairs, although surprisingly only in the incidental test. Parietal regions, however, showed increased repetition-related responses in both tests. These results suggest that the neural correlates of successful voluntary explicit memory differ in directionality, even if not in location, from the neural correlates of successful involuntary implicit (or explicit) memory, even when the incidental test taps conceptual processes.

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Introduction: Schizophrenia is associated with multiple neuropsychological dysfunctions, such as disturbances of attention, memory, perceptual functioning, concept formation and executive processes. These cognitive functions are reported to depend on the integrity of the prefrontal and thalamo-prefrontal circuits. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that schizophrenia is related to abnormalities in neural circuitry and impaired structural connectivity. Here, we report a preliminary case-control study that showed a correlation between thalamo-frontal connections and several cognitive functions known to be impaired in schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: We investigated 9 schizophrenic patients (DSM IV criteria, Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies) and 9 age and sex matched control subjects. We obtained from each volunteer a DT-MRI dataset (3 T, _ _ 1,000 s/mm2), and a high resolution anatomic T1. The thalamo- frontal tracts are simulated with DTI tractography on these dataset, a method allowing inference of the main neural fiber tracks from Diffusion MRI data. In order to see an eventual correlation with the thalamo-frontal connections, every subject performs a battery of neuropsychological tests including computerized tests of attention (sustained attention, selective attention and reaction time), working memory tests (Plane test and the working memory sub-tests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), a executive functioning task (Tower of Hanoï) and a test of visual binding abilities. Results: In a pilot case-control study (patients: n _ 9; controls: n _ 9), we showed that this methodology is appropriate and giving results in the excepted range. Considering the relation of the connectivity density and the neuropsychological data, a correlation between the number of thalamo- frontal fibers and the performance in the Tower of Hanoï was observed in the patients (Pearson correlation, r _ 0.76, p _ 0.05) but not in control subjects. In the most difficult item of the test, the least number of fibers corresponds to the worst performance of the test (fig. 2, number of supplementary movements of the elements necessary to realize the right configuration). It's interesting to note here that in an independent study, we showed that schizophrenia patients (n _ 32) perform in the most difficult item of the Tower of Hanoï (Mann-Whitney, p _ 0.005) significantly worse than control subjects (n _ 29). This has been observed in several others neuropsychological studies. Discussion: This pilot study of schizophrenia patients shows a correlation between the number of thalam-frontal fibers and the performance in the Tower of Hanoï, which is a planning and goal oriented actions task known to be associated with frontal dysfonction. This observation is consistent with the proposed impaired connectivity in schizophrenia. We aim to pursue the study with a larger sample in order to determine if other neuropsychological tests may be associated with the connectivity density.

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This study investigated the spatial, spectral, temporal and functional proprieties of functional brain connections involved in the concurrent execution of unrelated visual perception and working memory tasks. Electroencephalography data was analysed using a novel data-driven approach assessing source coherence at the whole-brain level. Three connections in the beta-band (18-24 Hz) and one in the gamma-band (30-40 Hz) were modulated by dual-task performance. Beta-coherence increased within two dorsofrontal-occipital connections in dual-task conditions compared to the single-task condition, with the highest coherence seen during low working memory load trials. In contrast, beta-coherence in a prefrontal-occipital functional connection and gamma-coherence in an inferior frontal-occipitoparietal connection was not affected by the addition of the second task and only showed elevated coherence under high working memory load. Analysis of coherence as a function of time suggested that the dorsofrontal-occipital beta-connections were relevant to working memory maintenance, while the prefrontal-occipital beta-connection and the inferior frontal-occipitoparietal gamma-connection were involved in top-down control of concurrent visual processing. The fact that increased coherence in the gamma-connection, from low to high working memory load, was negatively correlated with faster reaction time on the perception task supports this interpretation. Together, these results demonstrate that dual-task demands trigger non-linear changes in functional interactions between frontal-executive and occipitoparietal-perceptual cortices.

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The concept of autism is reviewed in its historical evolution. It is suggested that the Bleulerian insistence on the withdrawal component in autism contributed to the decline of its use in adult psychiatry. Phenomenology offers another approach to grasping the nature of autism as a relational (subject-outer world) phenomenon. European phenomenological psychiatry in the field of schizophrenia is introduced and its attempts to reveal the essence of autism are presented. Autism is here considered as a "loss of vital contact with reality" (Minkowski), "inconsistency of natural experience" (Binswanger), or "the global crisis of common sense" (Blankenburg). It is proposed that autism represents dysfunctional perceptual/expressive attunement to the outer world. The usefulness of this concept is briefly examined in relation to the diagnosis and etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia.

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Schizotypy refers to a set of personality traits thought to reflect the subclinical expression of the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia. Here, we review the cognitive and brain functional profile associated with high questionnaire scores in schizotypy. We discuss empirical evidence from the domains of perception, attention, memory, imagery and representation, language, and motor control. Perceptual deficits occur early and across various modalities. Whilst the neural mechanisms underlying visual impairments may be linked to magnocellular dysfunction, further effects may be seen downstream in higher cognitive functions. Cognitive deficits are observed in inhibitory control, selective and sustained attention, incidental learning and memory. In concordance with the cognitive nature of many of the aberrations of schizotypy, higher levels of schizotypy are associated with enhanced vividness and better performance on tasks of mental rotation. Language deficits seem most pronounced in higher-level processes. Finally, higher levels of schizotypy are associated with reduced performance on oculomotor tasks, resembling the impairments seen in schizophrenia. Some of these deficits are accompanied by reduced brain activation, akin to the pattern of hypoactivations in schizophrenia spectrum individuals. We conclude that schizotypy is a construct with apparent phenomenological overlap with schizophrenia and stable inter-individual differences that covary with performance on a wide range of perceptual, cognitive and motor tasks known to be impaired in schizophrenia. The importance of these findings lies not only in providing a fine-grained neurocognitive characterisation of a personality constellation known to be associated with real-life impairments, but also in generating hypotheses concerning the aetiology of schizophrenia.

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Multisensory interactions are observed in species from single-cell organisms to humans. Important early work was primarily carried out in the cat superior colliculus and a set of critical parameters for their occurrence were defined. Primary among these were temporal synchrony and spatial alignment of bisensory inputs. Here, we assessed whether spatial alignment was also a critical parameter for the temporally earliest multisensory interactions that are observed in lower-level sensory cortices of the human. While multisensory interactions in humans have been shown behaviorally for spatially disparate stimuli (e.g. the ventriloquist effect), it is not clear if such effects are due to early sensory level integration or later perceptual level processing. In the present study, we used psychophysical and electrophysiological indices to show that auditory-somatosensory interactions in humans occur via the same early sensory mechanism both when stimuli are in and out of spatial register. Subjects more rapidly detected multisensory than unisensory events. At just 50 ms post-stimulus, neural responses to the multisensory 'whole' were greater than the summed responses from the constituent unisensory 'parts'. For all spatial configurations, this effect followed from a modulation of the strength of brain responses, rather than the activation of regions specifically responsive to multisensory pairs. Using the local auto-regressive average source estimation, we localized the initial auditory-somatosensory interactions to auditory association areas contralateral to the side of somatosensory stimulation. Thus, multisensory interactions can occur across wide peripersonal spatial separations remarkably early in sensory processing and in cortical regions traditionally considered unisensory.

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Abstract Working memory has been defined as the ability to maintain and manipulate on-line a limited amount of information. A large number of studies have investigated visuospatial working memory in schizophrenia. However, today, the available data concerning the functioning of these processes in schizophrenia are largely controversial. These inconclusive results are due to incomplete knowledge on processes involved in visuospatial working memory tasks. Recent studies suggest that visuospatial working memory processes may be divided into an active monitoring and a storing components. Furthermore, it has been shown that visuospatial working memory processes are strongly interconnected with early encoding processes (perceptual organization). In our view, the two working memory components, and the relationship that they entertain with early encoding processes, may be investigated using dynamic and static visuospatial stimuli in a working memory paradigm. In this thesis we aim at comparing dynamic and static visuospatial working memory processes in patients with schizophrenia and first-episode of psychosis patients. This analysis may clarify the functioning of visuospatial working memory and the dysfunction of these processes in schizophrenia. Our results are in accord with the hypothesis of two visuospatial working memory subcomponents. Dynamic, rather than static, stimuli are strongly involved in the visuospatial working memory encoding process. Indeed, the results are congruent with the idea that static stimuli may be strongly encoded by parallel perceptual organization processes. Patients with schizophrenia show important deficits in both working memory and perceptual organization encoding processes. In contrast, perceptual organization processes seem spared in firstepisodepsychosis patients. Considering our findings, we propose a model to explain the degradation of visuospatial processes involved in a working memory task during schizophrenia. Résumé: La mémoire de travail est définie comme la capacité à maintenir et manipuler « on-line » un nombre limité d'informations pour une courte période de temps (de l'ordre de quelques dizaines de secondes). Un grand nombre d'études a montré que les processus de mémoire de travail visuo spatiale peuvent être affectés dans la schizophrénie. Malgré cela, les données concernant les déficits de ces processus chez des patients qui souffrent de schizophrénie sont contradictoires. La difficulté de comprendre la nature des déficits de mémoire de travail visuospatiale dans la schizophrénie est en grande partie imputable aux connaissances encore lacunaires sur le fonctionnement de ces processus dans un état non pathologique. Dans cette thèse, on cherche à élucider le fonctionnement des processus de mémoire de travail visuospatiale. Pour cela, on a créé un nouveau paradigme qui sollicite ce type de mémoire. Dans ce paradigme, on présente des stimuli dynamiques et statiques. Après un court délai, le sujet doit reconnaître le stimulus qu'il a visualisé parmi six possibilités. Sur la base de récentes études neurophysiologiques, neuroanatomiques et psychologiques, nous avançons l'hypothèse que l'encodage de stimuli dynamiques et statiques repose sur deux processus distincts de mémoire de travail : un processus d'organisation qui manipule les informations sensorielles et un processus dé stockage qui est responsable du maintien de l'information au cours de la manipulation. Ces processus sont en relation directe avec les processus responsables d'une organisation de l'information à un niveau précoce du traitement visuel. Les études présentées dans cette thèse ont pour but de vérifier la pertinence de la distinction entre les processus de mémoire de travail visuospatiale, selon la modalité «dynamique » ou «statique ». L'investigation des processus dynamiques et statiques de mémoire de travail dans la schizophrénie présente deux avantages principaux. Premièrement, 1a pathologie pourrait permettre de mettre en évidence, par les dysfonctionnements qu'elle présente, la pertinence des hypothèses sur le fonctionnement des processus de mémoire de travail visuospatiale et de leur interaction avec les processus sensoriels. Deuxièmement, ces investigations rendent possible une analyse des dysfonctions des différents processus dans la schizophrénie. Dans cette thèse, on analyse aussi les processus de mémoire de travail «dynamiques » et «statiques » chez des sujets dans une phase initiale de la psychose. Les résultats de cette étude permettent de faire une comparaison avec ceux obtenus avec des patients qui souffrent de schizophrénie. Cette comparaison peut apporter des informations intéressantes sur l'évolution des dysfonctions dans les processus impliqués dans les fonctions de mémoire de travail visuospatiale au cours de la schizophrénie. Les résultats obtenus dans les différentes études sont cohérents avec l'hypothèse d'une implication différente des processus d'organisation de la mémoire de travail sur des stimuli dynamiques et statiques. -Nos résultats montrent que les processus de mémoire de travail responsables de l'organisation (manipulation active) des informations est déficitaire dans la schizophrénie. Ce déficit semble jouer un rôle de premier plan dans la dégradation des processus visuospatiaux au cours de la schizophrénie.

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Recent findings suggest that the visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSSP) may be divided into two sub-components processing dynamic or static visual information. This model may be useful to elucidate the confusion of data concerning the functioning of the VSSP in schizophrenia. The present study examined patients with schizophrenia and matched controls in a new working memory paradigm involving dynamic (the Ball Flight Task - BFT) or static (the Static Pattern Task - SPT) visual stimuli. In the BFT, the responses of the patients were apparently based on the retention of the last set of segments of the perceived trajectory, whereas control subjects relied on a more global strategy. We assume that the patients' performances are the result of a reduced capacity in chunking visual information since they relied mainly on the retention of the last set of segments. This assumption is confirmed by the poor performance of the patients in the static task (SPT), which requires a combination of stimulus components into object representations. We assume that the static/dynamic distinction may help us to understand the VSSP deficits in schizophrenia. This distinction also raises questions about the hypothesis that visuo-spatial working memory can simply be dissociated into visual and spatial sub-components.

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The current state of empirical investigations refers to consciousness as an all-or-none phenomenon. However, a recent theoretical account opens up this perspective by proposing a partial level (between nil and full) of conscious perception. In the well-studied case of single-word reading, short-lived exposure can trigger incomplete word-form recognition wherein letters fall short of forming a whole word in one's conscious perception thereby hindering word-meaning access and report. Hence, the processing from incomplete to complete word-form recognition straightforwardly mirrors a transition from partial to full-blown consciousness. We therefore hypothesized that this putative functional bottleneck to consciousness (i.e. the perceptual boundary between partial and full conscious perception) would emerge at a major key hub region for word-form recognition during reading, namely the left occipito-temporal junction. We applied a real-time staircase procedure and titrated subjective reports at the threshold between partial (letters) and full (whole word) conscious perception. This experimental approach allowed us to collect trials with identical physical stimulation, yet reflecting distinct perceptual experience levels. Oscillatory brain activity was monitored with magnetoencephalography and revealed that the transition from partial-to-full word-form perception was accompanied by alpha-band (7-11 Hz) power suppression in the posterior left occipito-temporal cortex. This modulation of rhythmic activity extended anteriorly towards the visual word form area (VWFA), a region whose selectivity for word-forms in perception is highly debated. The current findings provide electrophysiological evidence for a functional bottleneck to consciousness thereby empirically instantiating a recently proposed partial perspective on consciousness. Moreover, the findings provide an entirely new outlook on the functioning of the VWFA as a late bottleneck to full-blown conscious word-form perception.

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Résumé: Les récents progrès techniques de l'imagerie cérébrale non invasives ont permis d'améliorer la compréhension des différents systèmes fonctionnels cérébraux. Les approches multimodales sont devenues indispensables en recherche, afin d'étudier dans sa globalité les différentes caractéristiques de l'activité neuronale qui sont à la base du fonctionnement cérébral. Dans cette étude combinée d'imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle (IRMf) et d'électroencéphalographie (EEG), nous avons exploité le potentiel de chacune d'elles, soit respectivement la résolution spatiale et temporelle élevée. Les processus cognitifs, de perception et de mouvement nécessitent le recrutement d'ensembles neuronaux. Dans la première partie de cette thèse nous étudions, grâce à la combinaison des techniques IRMf et EEG, la réponse des aires visuelles lors d'une stimulation qui demande le regroupement d'éléments cohérents appartenant aux deux hémi-champs visuels pour en faire une seule image. Nous utilisons une mesure de synchronisation (EEG de cohérence) comme quantification de l'intégration spatiale inter-hémisphérique et la réponse BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) pour évaluer l'activité cérébrale qui en résulte. L'augmentation de la cohérence de l'EEG dans la bande beta-gamma mesurée au niveau des électrodes occipitales et sa corrélation linéaire avec la réponse BOLD dans les aires de VP/V4, reflète et visualise un ensemble neuronal synchronisé qui est vraisemblablement impliqué dans le regroupement spatial visuel. Ces résultats nous ont permis d'étendre la recherche à l'étude de l'impact que le contenu en fréquence des stimuli a sur la synchronisation. Avec la même approche, nous avons donc identifié les réseaux qui montrent une sensibilité différente à l'intégration des caractéristiques globales ou détaillées des images. En particulier, les données montrent que l'implication des réseaux visuels ventral et dorsal est modulée par le contenu en fréquence des stimuli. Dans la deuxième partie nous avons a testé l'hypothèse que l'augmentation de l'activité cérébrale pendant le processus de regroupement inter-hémisphérique dépend de l'activité des axones calleux qui relient les aires visuelles. Comme le Corps Calleux présente une maturation progressive pendant les deux premières décennies, nous avons analysé le développement de la fonction d'intégration spatiale chez des enfants âgés de 7 à 13 ans et le rôle de la myelinisation des fibres calleuses dans la maturation de l'activité visuelle. Nous avons combiné l'IRMf et la technique de MTI (Magnetization Transfer Imaging) afin de suivre les signes de maturation cérébrale respectivement sous l'aspect fonctionnel et morphologique (myelinisation). Chez lés enfants, les activations associées au processus d'intégration entre les hémi-champs visuels sont, comme chez l'adulte, localisées dans le réseau ventral mais se limitent à une zone plus restreinte. La forte corrélation que le signal BOLD montre avec la myelinisation des fibres du splenium est le signe de la dépendance entre la maturation des fonctions visuelles de haut niveau et celle des connections cortico-corticales. Abstract: Recent advances in non-invasive brain imaging allow the visualization of the different aspects of complex brain dynamics. The approaches based on a combination of imaging techniques facilitate the investigation and the link of multiple aspects of information processing. They are getting a leading tool for understanding the neural basis of various brain functions. Perception, motion, and cognition involve the formation of cooperative neuronal assemblies distributed over the cerebral cortex. In this research, we explore the characteristics of interhemispheric assemblies in the visual brain by taking advantage of the complementary characteristics provided by EEG (electroencephalography) and fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) techniques. These are the high temporal resolution for EEG and high spatial resolution for fMRI. In the first part of this thesis we investigate the response of the visual areas to the interhemispheric perceptual grouping task. We use EEG coherence as a measure of synchronization and BOLD (Blood Oxygenar tion Level Dependent) response as a measure of the related brain activation. The increase of the interhemispheric EEG coherence restricted to the occipital electrodes and to the EEG beta band and its linear relation to the BOLD responses in VP/V4 area points to a trans-hemispheric synchronous neuronal assembly involved in early perceptual grouping. This result encouraged us to explore the formation of synchronous trans-hemispheric networks induced by the stimuli of various spatial frequencies with this multimodal approach. We have found the involvement of ventral and medio-dorsal visual networks modulated by the spatial frequency content of the stimulus. Thus, based on the combination of EEG coherence and fMRI BOLD data, we have identified visual networks with different sensitivity to integrating low vs. high spatial frequencies. In the second part of this work we test the hypothesis that the increase of brain activity during perceptual grouping depends on the activity of callosal axons interconnecting the visual areas that are involved. To this end, in children of 7-13 years, we investigated functional (functional activation with fMRI) and morphological (myelination of the corpus callosum with Magnetization Transfer Imaging (MTI)) aspects of spatial integration. In children, the activation associated with the spatial integration across visual fields was localized in visual ventral stream and limited to a part of the area activated in adults. The strong correlation between individual BOLD responses in .this area and the myelination of the splenial system of fibers points to myelination as a significant factor in the development of the spatial integration ability.

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The splenium of the corpus callosum connects the posterior cortices with fibers varying in size from thin late-myelinating axons in the anterior part, predominantly connecting parietal and temporal areas, to thick early-myelinating fibers in the posterior part, linking primary and secondary visual areas. In the adult human brain, the function of the splenium in a given area is defined by the specialization of the area and implemented via excitation and/or suppression of the contralateral homotopic and heterotopic areas at the same or different level of visual hierarchy. These mechanisms are facilitated by interhemispheric synchronization of oscillatory activity, also supported by the splenium. In postnatal ontogenesis, structural MRI reveals a protracted formation of the splenium during the first two decades of human life. In doing so, the slow myelination of the splenium correlates with the formation of interhemispheric excitatory influences in the extrastriate areas and the EEG synchronization, while the gradual increase of inhibitory effects in the striate cortex is linked to the local inhibitory circuitry. Reshaping interactions between interhemispherically distributed networks under various perceptual contexts allows sparsification of responses to superfluous information from the visual environment, leading to a reduction of metabolic and structural redundancy in a child's brain.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an explicit handwriting program introduced during the first grade of elementary school. Grade 1 children (N=23) with an age range of 6.1 to 7.4 yr. (15 girls, 8 boys) were administered an additional handwriting program of two weekly sessions of 45 min. over six weeks. Another group of 19 Grade 1 children (11 girls, 8 boys) received only the regular handwriting program of one weekly session. The Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting was administered to measure the changes in quality and speed of handwriting. The children given the explicit program showed better quality and speed of handwriting than did the control group. Their handwriting was more regular, with fewer ambiguous letters and fewer incorrect relative heights.

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Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses reported in the French technical manual of the WISC-IV provides evidence supporting a structure with four indices: Verbal Comprehension (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning (PRI), Working Memory (WMI), and Processing Speed (PSI). Although the WISC-IV is more attuned to contemporary theory, it is still not in total accordance with the dominant theory: the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive ability. This study was designed to determine whether the French WISC-IV is better described with the four-factor solution or whether an alternative model based on the CHC theory is more appropriate. The intercorrelations matrix reported in the French technical manual was submitted to confirmatory factor analysis. A comparison of competing models suggests that a model based on the CHC theory fits the data better than the current WISC-IV structure. It appears that the French WISC-IV in fact measures six factors: crystallized intelligence (Gc), fluid intelligence (Gf), short-term memory (Gsm), processing speed (Gs), quantitative knowledge (Gq), and visual processing (Gv). We recommend that clinicians interpret the subtests of the French WISC-IV in relation to this CHC model in addition to the four indices.

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OBJECTIVE: To identify a distinctive chronic visual complication of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) use. DESIGN: Description of the clinical findings in three patients with this disorder. SETTING: A neuro-ophthalmology referral center. RESULTS: All three patients experienced prolonged afterimages (palinopsia) during LSD intoxication and have continued to be symptomatic up to 3 years after they ceased to ingest the drug. Results of neuro-ophthalmologic and neurologic examinations and neuroimaging and electrophysiologic studies were normal. CONCLUSIONS: We have described three patients in whom persistent palinopsia developed following ingestion of LSD. Clinicians should inquire about past LSD use in all patients who initially have seemingly spontaneous, isolated palinopsia. Recognition of this distinctive clinical syndrome associated with LSD use might avoid unnecessary anxiety and excessive diagnostic tests for patients with this disorder.