Abnormalities of Perception with Defective Eye Movements (Bálint's Syndrome)

Summary A patient is reported with a defect in visual perception similar to that originally described by Balint. Associated disorders of ocular motility and visual motor coordination were also present. There were significant defects in both spatial and temporal reception of visual stimuli resulting in a very restricted effective field. A significant disorder in visual attending to peripheral stimuli resulted in a very defective pattern of visual searching of the environment. It is suggested that this abnormality of visual exploration in conjunction with the temporal and spatial defects play a significant role in the distorted visual perceptions. The defects noted seemed adequate to explain the patient's behavior without the necessity of postulating an “agnosic” defect.