Attention Reorients Periodically

Dugué, Laura; Roberts, Mariel; Carrasco, Marisa

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.046

Cited by 112 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This framework predicts that suppression of activity in one or more of these areas should impair the ability of an animal to use cues to improve its perceptual sensitivity. This prediction has not been directly tested in animals, although clinical cases (13) and experiments in humans using transcranial magnetic stimulation (14,15) corroborate the idea that these cortical areas are important for the orienting of attention and the use of spatial cues.…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

Changes in perceptual sensitivity related to spatial cues depends on subcortical activity

Lovejoy

Krauzlis

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Spatial cues allow animals to selectively attend to relevant visual stimuli while ignoring distracters. This process depends on a distributed neuronal network, and an important current challenge is to understand the functional contributions made by individual brain regions within this network and how these contributions interact. Recent findings point to a possible anatomical segregation, with cortical and subcortical brain regions contributing to different functional components of selective attention. Cortical areas, especially visual cortex, may be responsible for implementing changes in perceptual sensitivity by changing the signal-tonoise ratio, whereas other regions, such as the superior colliculus, may be involved in processes that influence selection between competing stimuli without regulating perceptual sensitivity. Such a segregation of function would predict that when activity in the superior colliculus is suppressed by reversible inactivation, animals should still show changes in perceptual sensitivity mediated by the intact cortical circuits. Contrary to this prediction, here we report that inactivation of the primate superior colliculus eliminates the changes in perceptual sensitivity made possible by spatial cues. These findings demonstrate changes in perceptual sensitivity depend not only on neuronal activity in cortex but also require interaction with signals from the superior colliculus.attention | perception | sensitivity | superior colliculus | cortex S patial cues are known to improve perceptual sensitivity on visual discrimination and detection tasks, and these behavioral effects seem to originate from changes in neural activity across several brain regions (1). In monkey visual cortex, spatial cues change the statistics of neuronal activity, and these changes are thought to reflect an increase in signal-to-noise synonymous with the spatially restricted changes in perceptual sensitivity characteristic of selective attention (2-4). The frontal and parietal cortex are also strongly implicated in the control of spatial attention (2, 3). Electrical microstimulation of neurons in frontal cortex of monkeys leads to shifts in selective attention mimicking the effects of visual cues (5); conversely, suppression of neural activity in frontal or parietal cortex leads to deficits in performance on attention-demanding tasks (6-8).These and similar observations have led to an explanatory framework in which the fidelity of sensory processing in visual cortex is regulated by a network of frontal and parietal cortical areas (9-12). This framework predicts that suppression of activity in one or more of these areas should impair the ability of an animal to use cues to improve its perceptual sensitivity. This prediction has not been directly tested in animals, although clinical cases (13) and experiments in humans using transcranial magnetic stimulation (14, 15) corroborate the idea that these cortical areas are important for the orienting of attention and the use of spatial cues.In addition to this network o...

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mentioning

confidence: 83%

Changes in perceptual sensitivity related to spatial cues depends on subcortical activity

Lovejoy

Krauzlis

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Applying TMS at various intervals after search onset, this study demonstrates that attentional search is modulated periodically by brain oscillations. More recently, following a similar procedure (Figure 1A; Dugué et al, 2016), TMS was used to probe theta phase-reset induced by attentional reorienting to task relevant stimuli (Figure 1C). By stimulating at various delays while observers performed a 2-AFC orientation discrimination task, this study demonstrates that reorientation of voluntary attention periodically involves occipital areas at 5 Hz (theta).…”

Section: Tms To Probe Intrinsic Rhythmicity Of Perception and Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The purple curve corresponds to the difference of the pink and red curves from panel C , and is also periodic at 5 Hz (theta). (C) In Dugué et al (2016), observers performed a 2-AFC orientation discrimination task in which voluntary attention was manipulated using valid (in blue) or invalid (in red) cueing. Performance was measured as per d'max (d' at asymptotic performance).…”

Section: Tms To Probe Intrinsic Rhythmicity Of Perception and Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Dugué et al (2015a) observers had to monitor the visual environment in a difficult search task in order to find a target among similar looking distractors. In Dugué et al (2016), voluntary attention was manipulated using a central visual cue to either a valid (same location as the target) or invalid (opposite location) stimulus location. In invalid trials, observers had to spatially reorient their attention to the opposite target location.…”

Section: A Tentative Model Of the Role Of Alpha And Theta Oscillationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This topic gathers increasing interest in the scientific community while compelling evidence accumulates. A variety of brain functions, such as attention (e.g., Busch and VanRullen, 2010; Dugué et al, 2015a, 2016; Landau et al, 2015), perception (e.g., Ergenoglu et al, 2004; Busch et al, 2009; Romei et al, 2010; Dugué et al, 2011b), and memory (e.g., Jensen et al, 2002; Bonnefond and Jensen, 2012), have been correlated to oscillations in specific brain areas and frequency bands. The question remains, however, as to whether these oscillations are a mere by-product of brain processing, or carry functional meaning and constitute the neural substrate underlying perception and cognition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Reveals Intrinsic Perceptual and Attentional Rhythms

Dugué

VanRullen

2017

Front. Neurosci.

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Oscillatory brain activity has functional relevance for perceptual and cognitive processes, as proven by numerous electrophysiology studies accumulating over the years. However, only within the past two decades have researchers been able to study the causal role of such oscillations using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technology. Two complementary approaches exist. A majority of research employs rhythmic TMS (rTMS) to entrain oscillatory activity and investigate its effect on targeted brain functions. On the other hand, single pulses of TMS (spTMS) that can be delivered with a high spatio-temporal resolution, can be used to precisely probe the state of the system. In this mini-review, we concentrate on this second approach. We argue that, with no a priori hypothesis on the oscillatory frequency of the targeted cortical regions, spTMS can help establish causal links between spontaneous oscillatory activity and perceptual and cognitive functions. Notably, this approach helped to demonstrate that the occipital cortex is periodically involved during specific attentional tasks at the theta (~5 Hz) frequency. We propose that this frequency reflects periodic inter-areal communication for attentional exploration and selection. In the future, clever combination of non-invasive recording and stimulation with well-controlled psychophysics protocols will allow us to further our understanding of the role of brain oscillations for human brain functions.

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Oscillatory dynamics in the dorsal and ventral attention networks during the reorienting of attention

Proskovec

Heinrichs‐Graham

Wiesman

et al. 2018

Human Brain Mapping

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The ability to reorient attention within the visual field is central to daily functioning, and numerous fMRI studies have shown that the dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN, VAN) are critical to such processes. However, despite the instantaneous nature of attentional shifts, the dynamics of oscillatory activity serving attentional reorientation remain poorly characterized. In this study, we utilized magnetoencephalography (MEG) and a Posner task to probe the dynamics of attentional reorienting in 29 healthy adults. MEG data were transformed into the time-frequency domain and significant oscillatory responses were imaged using a beamformer. Voxel time series were then extracted from peak voxels in the functional beamformer images. These time series were used to quantify the dynamics of attentional reorienting, and to compute dynamic functional connectivity. Our results indicated strong increases in theta and decreases in alpha and beta activity across many nodes in the DAN and VAN. Interestingly, theta responses were generally stronger during trials that required attentional reorienting relative to those that did not, while alpha and beta oscillations were more dynamic, with many regions exhibiting significantly stronger responses during non-reorienting trials initially, and the opposite pattern during later processing. Finally, stronger functional connectivity was found following target presentation (575-700 ms) between bilateral superior parietal lobules during attentional reorienting. In sum, these data show that visual attention is served by multiple cortical regions within the DAN and VAN, and that attentional reorienting processes are often associated with spectrally-specific oscillations that have largely distinct spatiotemporal dynamics.

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Attention Reorients Periodically

Cited by 112 publications

References 49 publications

Changes in perceptual sensitivity related to spatial cues depends on subcortical activity

Changes in perceptual sensitivity related to spatial cues depends on subcortical activity

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Reveals Intrinsic Perceptual and Attentional Rhythms

Oscillatory dynamics in the dorsal and ventral attention networks during the reorienting of attention

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