Visual scanning and matching dysfunction in brain-damaged patients with drawing impairment.

Visual matching and visual exploration were examined in 7 normal subjects and 20 brain-damaged patients with drawing impairment measured by the Bender Gestalt Visual-Motor Test. Right brain-damaged patients made significantly more errors of rotation and integration than left brain-damaged patients. Selecteded Bender figures were also used as stimuli for both visual matching and visual exploration tests. The ability to match Bender figures was found to be impaired in right but not left brain-damaged patients. All patients showed eye movement and fixation patterns different from those normals. Patients essentially had more fixations and shorter fixation durations. Significant intercorrelations were found between the total Bender Gestalt score and visual matching and visual exploration scores. These findings indicate that visual matching and visual exploration measures can be used to evaluate perceptual impairment in individuals who do not have adequate motor responses or where impaired motor responses may confound interpretations about visual cognitive impairment.