ERP correlates of tactile spatial attention differ under intra- and intermodal conditions

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. The majority of spatial attention research has investigated processes related to the orienting of attention and selection of information within the visual system. In recent years the number of studies investigating the ability to orient attention to locations on the body and to selectively attend to tactile information has increased (see Spence and Gallace, 2007 for review). These studies have shown that also in the tactile modality attention can be oriented voluntarily (endogenously) and reflexively (exogenously) to locations on the body. Electrophysiological and brain imaging studies have reported that early somatosensory processing is modulated by tactile spatial attention (e.g. Michie, 1984;Roland, 1981), while behavioural studies of endogenous tactile attention have found that orienting attention to a location on the body both speeds reaction times (RT) and enhances discrimination of tactile stimuli at that location (see Johansen-Berg and Lloyd, 2000 or Spence, 2002 for reviews). Permanent repository linkEndogenous tactile attention can be oriented to a location on the body either in a sustained fashion over longer periods of time or in a transient fashion following informative cues indicating the subsequent stimulus location. Most studies investigating transient endogenous tactile attention have employed either auditory or visual cues to orient participants' attention. Indication that endogenous tactile attention is influenced by the sensory modality of the attention directing cues comes from a recent behavioural study by Chica et al. (2007). In their study participants oriented their attention to tactile target locations following either visual or tactile unilateral cues. Behavioural endogenous attention effects were larger when cue and target were presented in the same sensory modality than when they were presented in different sensory modalities (see also Mondor and Amirault, 1998). Importantly, this result indicates that processes related to endogenous tactile attention, that is attentional orienting to locations on the body and somatosensory stimulus processing, may in part be dependent on the sensory modality of the attention directing cue. Both brain imaging and electrophysiological studies have begun to investigate the mechanisms underlying attentional orienting. While fMRI studies have revealed an attention network of frontal and parietal activity during the cue-stimulus interval, electrophysiological studies have now started to unravel the temporal pattern of changes in brain activity during the interval between the onset of an attention directing cue and the onset of a subsequent imperative stimulus in cue-locked event-related brain potentials (ERPs). These studies have shown that two successive lateralised ERP components are elicited which are sensitive to the direction of the cued attentional shift (e.g. Hopf and Mangun, 2000;Nobre et al., 2000;. More specifically, following c...

Cue‐locked lateralized components in a tactile spatial attention task: Evidence for a functional dissociation between ADAN and LSN

“…However, because this component is not always reliably present in tactile attention tasks (e.g. Forster, Sambo & Pavone 2009;, including the present study, this component will not be discussed further.…”

“…While the vast majority of ERP studies investigating the ADAN have been carried out within the visual and auditory modalities, there is now consistent evidence that a reliable ADAN is also elicited when attention is oriented towards a cued location on the body during tactile attention tasks (Eardley & Van Velzen, 2011;Eimer, Forster & Van Velzen, 2003;Gherri & Forster, 2012;Jones & Forster, 2012;Forster et al, 2009;Van Velzen, Forster & Eimer, 2006). Because different cue types were used in these studies, the onset time of the tactile ADAN varied accordingly.…”

“…Gherri, Driver & Eimer, 2008;Forster, Sambo & Pavone, 2009) led to the suggestion that it might reflect supramodal attentional control processes independent of the sensory modality of the task-relevant stimulus (e.g. .…”

Reflexive attention in touch: An investigation of event related potentials and behavioural responses

“…Green and McDonald, 2006) 152 and tactile cue (Forster et al, 2009) studies and has been sug-153 gested to reflect a supramodal attention mechanism in the frontal 154 areas Seiss et al, …”

Pain & attention

“…Moreover, the LDAP was not observed for blind people, which suggest that this component is related to external (visual) space (Van Velzen, Eardley, Forster, & Eimer, 2006). In a study of Forster, Sambo and Pavone (2009) tactile imperative stimuli were presented on the hands, and conditions were examined with bilateral visual cues (close to the hands) and tactile cues preceding the imperative stimuli. The switching pattern of the cues indicated the side to be attended.…”