Control of spatial and feature-based attention in frontoparietal cortex

Visual attention selects task-relevant information from scenes to help achieve behavioral goals. Attention can be deployed within multiple domains to select specific spatial locations, features, or objects. Recent evidence has shown that voluntary shifts of attention in multiple domains are consiste...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2010-10, Vol.30 (43), p.14330-14339
Main Authors: Greenberg, Adam S, Esterman, Michael, Wilson, Daryl, Serences, John T, Yantis, Steven
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Attention - physiology
Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology
Color
Cues
Eye Movements - physiology
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Linear Models
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Parietal Lobe - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Visual Cortex - blood supply
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Visual attention selects task-relevant information from scenes to help achieve behavioral goals. Attention can be deployed within multiple domains to select specific spatial locations, features, or objects. Recent evidence has shown that voluntary shifts of attention in multiple domains are consistently associated with transient increases in cortical activity in medial superior parietal lobule, suggesting that this may be the source of a domain-independent control signal that initiates the reconfiguration of attention. To investigate this hypothesis, we used fMRI to measure changes in cortical activation while human subjects shifted attention between spatial locations or between colors at a location. Univariate multiple regression analysis revealed a common, domain-independent transient signal [in posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and prefrontal cortex] time-locked to shifts of attention in both domains. However, multivariate pattern classification conducted on the cortical surface revealed that the spatiotemporal pattern of activity within PPC differed reliably for spatial and feature-based attention shifts. These results suggest that the posterior parietal cortex is a common hub for the control of attention shifts but contains subpopulations of neurons with domain-specific tuning for cognitive control.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/jneurosci.4248-09.2010