Eye movements to a visual target are disrupted by the appearance of a task-irrelevant object in the visual field such that gaze is captured by that object unless there is sufficient time to focus attention on the target(Theeuwes et al. 1998, Psych Sci 4:379). Previously, we showed that hand movements of healthy young adults were minimally disturbed in a non-specific manner by objects suddenly appearing in the visual field (Darling et al. 2004. SFN Abstracts 30:995.12). We asked here whether hand movements by subjects with unilateral lesions of posterior parietal lobule (PPL) are attracted by the sudden appearance of new objects. We employed a paradigm similar to that used previously and recorded hand movements to targets using a touch-screen mounted on a horizontal table about 25 cm below the computer display. Briefly, 19 subjects (age 24-76 years) with brain lesions (11 with lesions of PPL, 8 with lesions outside PPL) and 10 healthy adults of similar age viewed a central blue fixation dot surrounded by si...