Cue validity modulates the neural correlates of covert endogenous orienting of attention in parietal and frontal cortex (original) (raw)
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Human Brain Mapping, 2009
The control of visuo-spatial attention entails the joint contribution of goal-directed (endogenous) and stimulus-driven (exogenous) factors. However, little is known about the neural bases of the interplay between these two mechanisms. To address this issue, we presented endogenous (spatially informative) and exogenous (noninformative) visual cues sequentially within the same trial (doublecue paradigm) during fMRI, crossing factorially the validity of the two cues. We found that both endogenous and exogenous cues affected behavioral performance, speeding-up or slowing-down target discrimination when valid and invalid, respectively. Despite the double-cue paradigm maximizes the interplay between endogenous and exogenous factors, the two types of cue affected responses in an independent manner without any significant effect of congruence. The imaging data revealed increased activation in separate cortical areas following invalid endogenous and invalid exogenous cues. A fronto-parietal system was activated during invalid endogenous trials, whereas a region at the temporo-occipital junction was activated during invalid exogenous trials. Within both circuits, activity was unaffected by the validity of the other cue. These results indicate the existence of separate, noninteracting neural circuits for endogenous and exogenous reorienting of visuo-spatial attention. Hum Brain Mapp 30:2367-2381, 2009. V V C 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Processing of conflicting cues in an attention-shift paradigm studied with fMRI
Neuroscience Letters, 2005
We investigated the effects of conflicting cues in visual attention on brain function, based on a modified version of the Posner cuetarget paradigm. The classic paradigm utilizes either a peripheral or centrally placed cue that involuntary or voluntary results in a shift of attention to the cued side. The modified paradigm involves presenting both a peripheral and central cue at the same time, but where the two cues convey conflicting information regarding direction of attention. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used to record neuronal activation in localized brain areas and networks when the subjects performed the attention task. We hypothesized that the 'exogenous invalid/endogenous valid' condition would activate the anterior attention system to a larger extent than the 'exogenous valid/endogenous invalid' condition, reflecting a need for top-down information processing in this condition. The results for performance data showed that the peripheral cue took precedence over the centrally placed cue when the two cues were in conflict, since reaction times were significantly longer in the "exogenous invalid/endogenous valid" condition. The fMRI data showed an increase in activation in the visual cortex, the left parietal lobule, and in the left cingulate gyrus in both the exogenous valid/endogenous invalid and exogenous invalid/endogenous valid conditions. For the exogenous invalid/endogenous valid condition, there were, in addition, significant activations also in the inferior and middle frontal gyri, and in the precentral gyrus. We interpret these findings as reflecting that these brain areas particularly involved in top-down modulation of attention that interferes with a bottom-up, exogenous-driven effect.
Cerebral Cortex, 2010
Voluntary orienting of visual attention is conventionally measured in tasks with predictive central cues followed by frequent valid targets at the cued location and by infrequent invalid targets at the uncued location. This implies that invalid targets entail both spatial reorienting of attention and breaching of the expected spatial congruency between cues and targets. Here, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to separate the neural correlates of the spatial and expectancy components of both endogenous orienting and stimulus-driven reorienting of attention. We found that during endogenous orienting with predictive cues, there was a significant deactivation of the right Temporal--Parietal Junction (TPJ). We also discovered that the lack of an equivalent deactivation with nonpredictive cues was matched to drop in attentional costs and preservation of attentional benefits. The right TPJ showed equivalent responses to invalid targets following predictive and nonpredictive cues. On the contrary, infrequentunexpected invalid targets following predictive cues specifically activated the right Middle and Inferior Frontal Gyrus (MFG--IFG). Additional comparisons with spatially neutral trials demonstrated that, independently of cue predictiveness, valid targets activate the left TPJ, whereas invalid targets activate both the left and right TPJs. These findings show that the selective right TPJ activation that is found in the comparison between invalid and valid trials results from the reciprocal canceling of the different activations that in the left TPJ are related to the processing of valid and invalid targets. We propose that left and right TPJs provide ''matching and mismatching to attentional template'' signals. These signals enable reorienting of attention and play a crucial role in the updating of the statistical contingency between cues and targets.
Neuroscience Letters, 2001
Brain activation induced by endogenous orienting with a motor response was investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We conducted four cued-attention experiments in which peripheral attention was caused by one of three symbolic pointers (eyes, squares as artificial eyes, or an arrow) that was predictive or not predictive of the target location. Attentional shift caused by the predictive and non-predictive cues induced right and left parietal activation across cue modalities, respectively. Regardless of the predictability of the target location, the eyes and arrow induced left parietal and frontal activation, and the arrow induced left parietal activation more than the squares. These results suggested that the left parieto-frontal network was involved in motor attention caused by natural or familiar pointers, whereas the right parietal cortex was involved in endogenous orienting.
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2015
In humans, invalid visual targets that mismatch spatial expectations induced by attentional cues are considered to selectively engage a right hemispheric "reorienting" network that includes the temporal parietal junction (TPJ), the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the medial frontal gyrus (MFG). However, recent findings suggest that this hemispheric dominance is not absolute and that it is rather observed because the TPJ and IFG areas in the left hemisphere are engaged both by invalid and valid cued targets. Because of this, the BOLD response of the left hemisphere to invalid targets is usually cancelled out by the standard "invalid versus valid" contrast used in functional magnetic resonance imaging investigations of spatial attention. Here, we used multivariate pattern recognition analysis (MVPA) to gain finer insight into the role played by the left TPJ and IFG in reorienting to invalid targets. We found that in left TPJ and IFG blood oxygen level-dependent (...
Increased Brain Activation During the Processing of Spatially Invalidly Cued Targets
The Open Neuroimaging Journal, 2008
In a spatial central cue Posner´s paradigm, positions in the vertical meridian were cued in order to evaluate the neuro-cognitive consequences in the processing of validly cued (VC) and invalidly cued (IC) targets. Sixty-four EEG channels were recorded and analyzed showing that IC targets produced an enhanced P3 component with respect to VC targets. With the purpose of reinforcing the idea of increased activation during IC targets and to define the areas in which the increased activation would occur, source localization was applied to the ERPs. LORETA and single dipole localization showed that the early P3 presented a localization in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), while the late P3 was fitted by single dipole more posterior than the early P3, and LORETA added a source in the parahippocampal gyrus in addition to the already activated dACC. LORETA results also showed a differential activation of the inferior frontal gyrus when IC targets were processed. The previous results suggest that subjects prepare to accomplish the task upon specification of the cue. Therefore, when the IC target appears, it induces the activation of the frontal cortex including areas related to the conflict monitoring system and to the processing of unexpected events. The IC targets also induce the revision of internal models about the task, possibly by activation of the temporo-mesial surface. All the obtained current source differences indicate that a higher brain activation during IC trials with respect to VC trials occurs.
Modality-Specific Control of Strategic Spatial Attention in Parietal Cortex
Neuron, 2004
the most challenging problems facing cognitive neuro-Victoria 3010 science (Macaluso and Driver, 2004). Evidence accumu-Australia lated from many sources suggests that the parietal cortex plays an important role in orienting attention. For over half a century, neuropsychological studies have Summary shown that lesions of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) cause unilateral neglect, in which patients exhibit a The neural basis of selective spatial attention presents pathological inattention to events that occur toward the a significant challenge to cognitive neuroscience. Recontralesional side of space (Critchley, 1953; Driver and cent neuroimaging studies have suggested that re-Mattingley, 1998; Driver and Vuilleumier, 2001). Studies gions of the parietal and temporal cortex constitute that have reversibly interfered with PPC activity in hua "supramodal" network that mediates goal-directed mans and animals have revealed similar deficits in covert attention in multiple sensory modalities. Here we used attention (Chambers et al., 2004; Hilgetag et al., 2001; transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to determine Mü ri et al., 2002; Rushworth et al., 2001; Wardak et which cortical subregions control strategic attention al., 2004). Specifically, these studies have shown that in vision and touch. Healthy observers undertook an cellular networks within the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), orienting task in which a central arrow cue predicted angular gyrus (AG), and supramarginal gyrus (SMG) are the location of a subsequent visual or somatosensory critical for attention shifts between visual stimuli in diftarget. To determine the attentional role of cortical ferent locations.
Attention and predictions: control of spatial attention beyond the endogenous-exogenous dichotomy
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2013
The mechanisms of attention control have been extensively studied with a variety of methodologies in animals and in humans. Human studies using non-invasive imaging techniques highlighted a remarkable difference between the pattern of responses in dorsal fronto-parietal regions vs. ventral fronto-parietal (vFP) regions, primarily lateralized to the right hemisphere. Initially, this distinction at the neuro-physiological level has been related to the distinction between cognitive processes associated with strategic/endogenous vs. stimulus-driven/exogenous of attention control. Nonetheless, quite soon it has become evident that, in almost any situation, attention control entails a complex combination of factors related to both the current sensory input and endogenous aspects associated with the experimental context. Here, we review several of these aspects first discussing the joint contribution of endogenous and stimulus-driven factors during spatial orienting in complex environments...
NeuroImage, 2003
The purpose of this study was to identify brain regions underlying internally generated anticipatory biases toward locations where significant events are expected to occur. Subjects fixated centrally and responded to peripheral targets preceded by a spatially valid (predictive), invalid (misleading), or neutral central cue while undergoing fMRI scanning. In some validly cued trials, reaction time was significantly shorter than in trials with neutral cues, indicating that the cue had successfully induced a spatial redistribution of motivational valence, manifested as expectancy. The largest cue benefits led to selectively greater activations within the posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. These two areas thus appear to establish a neural interface between attention and motivation. An inverse relationship to cue benefit was seen in the parietal cortex, suggesting that spatial expectancy may entail the inhibition of attention-related areas to reduce distractibility by events at irrelevant locations.
2011
Although it is well established that multiple frontal, parietal, and occipital regions in humans are involved in anticipatory deployment of visual spatial attention, less is known about the electrophysiological signals in each region across multiple subsecond periods of attentional deployment. We used MEG measures of cortical stimulus-locked, signal-averaged (event-related field) activity during a task in which a symbolic cue directed covert attention to the relevant location on each trial. Direction-specific attention effects occurred in different cortical regions for each of multiple time periods during the delay between the cue and imperative stimulus. A sequence of activation from V1/V2 to extrastriate, parietal, and frontal regions occurred within 110 ms after cue, possibly related to extraction of cue meaning. Direction-specific activations ϳ300 ms after cue in frontal eye field (FEF), lateral intraparietal area (LIP), and cuneus support early covert targeting of the cued location. This was followed by coactivation of a frontal-parietal system [superior frontal gyrus (SFG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), LIP, anterior intraparietal sulcus (IPSa)] that may coordinate the transition from targeting the cued location to sustained deployment of attention to both space and feature in the last period. The last period involved direction-specific activity in parietal regions and both dorsal and ventral sensory regions [LIP, IPSa, ventral IPS, lateral occipital region, and fusiform gyrus], which was accompanied by activation that was not direction specific in right hemisphere frontal regions (FEF, SFG, MFG). Behavioral performance corresponded with the magnitude of attention-related activity in different brain regions at each time period during deployment. The results add to the emerging electrophysiological characterization of different cortical networks that operate during anticipatory deployment of visual spatial attention.