Supramodal Effects of Covert Spatial Orienting Triggered by Visual or Tactile Events

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Macaluso ◽  
C. D. Frith ◽  
J. Driver
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Spatial Coding ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Target Modality ◽  
Spatial Orienting ◽  
Inferior Frontal Cortex ◽  
Trial Basis ◽  
Subsequent Target

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify brain areas involved in spatial attention and determine whether these operate unimodally or supramodally for vision and touch. On a trial-by-trial basis, a symbolic auditory cue indicated the most likely side for the subsequent target, thus directing covert attention to one side. A subsequent target appeared in vision or touch on the cued or uncued side. Invalidly cued trials (as compared with valid trials) activated the temporo-parietal junction and regions of inferior frontal cortex, regardless of target modality. These brain areas have been associated with multimodal spatial coding in physiological studies of the monkey brain and were linked to a change in the location that must be attended to in the present study. The intraparietal sulcus and superior frontal cortex were also activated in our task, again, regardless of target modality, but did not show any specificity for invalidly cued trials. These results identify a supramodal network for spatial attention and reveal differential activity for inferior circuits involving the temporo-parietal junction and inferior frontal cortex (specific to invalid trials) versus more superior intraparietal-frontal circuits (common to valid and invalid trials).

scholarly journals Alpha-Band Oscillations Enable Spatially and Temporally Resolved Tracking of Covert Spatial Attention

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 929-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua J. Foster ◽  
David W. Sutterer ◽  
John T. Serences ◽  
Edward K. Vogel ◽  
Edward Awh
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Alpha Activity ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Spatial Orienting ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Processing Resources

Covert spatial attention is essential for humans’ ability to direct limited processing resources to the relevant aspects of visual scenes. A growing body of evidence suggests that rhythmic neural activity in the alpha frequency band (8–12 Hz) tracks the spatial locus of covert attention, which suggests that alpha activity is integral to spatial attention. However, extant work has not provided a compelling test of another key prediction: that alpha activity tracks the temporal dynamics of covert spatial orienting. In the current study, we examined the time course of spatially specific alpha activity after central cues and during visual search. Critically, the time course of this activity tracked trial-by-trial variations in orienting latency during visual search. These findings provide important new evidence for the link between rhythmic brain activity and covert spatial attention, and they highlight a powerful approach for tracking the spatial and temporal dynamics of this core cognitive process.

An active role of inferior frontal cortex in conscious experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veith Weilnhammer ◽  
Merve Fritsch ◽  
Meera Chikermane ◽  
Anna-Lena Eckert ◽  
Katharina Kanthak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Inferior Frontal Cortex

scholarly journals Decreased event-related theta power and phase-synchrony in young binge drinkers during target detection: An anatomically-constrained MEG approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Correas ◽  
E López-Caneda ◽  
L Beaton ◽  
S Rodríguez Holguín ◽  
LM García-Moreno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Binge Drinking ◽  
Target Detection ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Theta Power ◽  
Inferior Frontal Cortex ◽  
Binge Drinkers ◽  
The Right ◽  
Integrative Processing

Background: The prevalence of binge drinking has risen in recent years. It is associated with a range of neurocognitive deficits among adolescents and young emerging adults who are especially vulnerable to alcohol use. Attention is an essential dimension of executive functioning and attentional disturbances may be associated with hazardous drinking. The aim of the study was to examine the oscillatory neural dynamics of attentional control during visual target detection in emerging young adults as a function of binge drinking. Method: In total, 51 first-year university students (18 ± 0.6 years) were assigned to light drinking ( n = 26), and binge drinking ( n = 25) groups based on their alcohol consumption patterns. A high-density magnetoencephalography signal was combined with structural magnetic resonance imaging in an anatomically constrained magnetoencephalography model to estimate event-related source power in a theta (4–7 Hz) frequency band. Phase-locked co-oscillations were further estimated between the principally activated regions during task performance. Results: Overall, the greatest event-related theta power was elicited by targets in the right inferior frontal cortex and it correlated with performance accuracy and selective attention scores. Binge drinkers exhibited lower theta power and dysregulated oscillatory synchrony to targets in the right inferior frontal cortex, which correlated with higher levels of alcohol consumption. Conclusions: These results confirm that a highly interactive network in the right inferior frontal cortex subserves attentional control, revealing the importance of theta oscillations and neural synchrony for attentional capture and contextual maintenance. Attenuation of theta power and synchronous interactions in binge drinkers may indicate early stages of suboptimal integrative processing in young, highly functioning binge drinkers.

scholarly journals Microsaccades and attention in a high-acuity visual alignment task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh Nanjappa ◽  
Robert M. McPeek
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Small Region ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Letter Detection ◽  
Fixed Target ◽  
Viewing Condition ◽  
Alignment Task ◽  
High Acuity ◽  
Subsequent Effect

ABSTRACTWhile aiming and shooting, we make tiny eye movements called microsaccades that shift gaze between task-relevant objects within a small region. However, in the brief period before pressing trigger, microsaccades are suppressed. This might be due to the lack of the requirement to shift gaze as the retinal images of the two objects start overlapping on fovea. Or we might be actively suppressing microsaccades to prevent any disturbances in visual perception caused by microsaccades around the time of their occurrence and their subsequent effect on shooting performance.In this study we looked at microsaccade rate while participants performed a simulated shooting task under two conditions: normal viewing in which they moved their eyes freely and eccentric condition in which they maintained gaze on a fixed target while performing shooting task at 5° eccentricity. As expected, microsaccade rate dropped at the end of the task in the normal viewing condition. However, we found the same for the eccentric condition in which microsaccade did not shift gaze between the task objects.Microsaccades are also produced in response to shifts in covert attention. To test whether disengagement of covert attention from eccentric shooting location caused the drop in microsaccade rate, we monitored participant’s spatial attention location by employing a RSVP task simultaneously at a location opposite to the shooting task. Target letter detection at RSVP location did not improve during the drop in microsaccade rate, suggesting that covert attention was maintained at the shooting task location.We conclude that in addition to their usual gaze-shifting function, microsaccades during fine acuity tasks might be modulated by cognitive processes other than spatial attention.

scholarly journals An exploration of face selectivity in human inferior frontal cortex

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 663-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W.-Y. Chan ◽  
M. V. Peelen ◽  
P. E. Downing
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Cortex ◽  
Face Selectivity

scholarly journals Task-Dependent Modulation of Regions in the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex during Semantic Processing

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 829-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Roskies ◽  
J. A. Fiez ◽  
D. A. Balota ◽  
M. E. Raichle ◽  
S. E. Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Inferior Frontal Cortex ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
The Right

To distinguish areas involved in the processing of word meaning (semantics) from other regions involved in lexical processing more generally, subjects were scanned with positron emission tomography (PET) while performing lexical tasks, three of which required varying degrees of semantic analysis and one that required phonological analysis. Three closely apposed regions in the left inferior frontal cortex and one in the right cerebellum were significantly active above baseline in the semantic tasks, but not in the nonsemantic task. The activity in two of the frontal regions was modulated by the difficulty of the semantic judgment. Other regions, including some in the left temporal cortex and the cerebellum, were active across all four language tasks. Thus, in addition to a number of regions known to be active during language processing, regions in the left inferior frontal cortex were specifically recruited during semantic processing in a task-dependent manner. A region in the right cerebellum may be functionally related to those in the left inferior frontal cortex. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for current views regarding neural substrates of semantic processing.

Spatial Orienting Controlled without Awareness: A Semantically Based Implicit Learning Effect

1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 490-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Lambert ◽  
Alexander L. Sumich
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Learning Effect ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Word Target ◽  
Spatial Orienting ◽  
Predictive Relationship

Three experiments tested whether spatial attention can be influenced by a predictive relation between incidental information and the location of target events. Subjects performed a simple dot detection task; 600 msec prior to each target a word was presented briefly 5° to the left or right of fixation. There was a predictive relationship between the semantic category (living or non-living) of the words and target location. However, subjects were instructed to ignore the words, and a post-experiment questionnaire confirmed that they remained unaware of the word-target relationship. In all three experiments, given some practice on the task, response times were faster when targets appeared at likely ( p = 0.8), compared to unlikely ( p = 0.2) locations, in relation to lateral word category. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed that this effect was driven by semantic encoding of the irrelevant words, and not by repetition of individual stimuli. Theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.

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