Anatomic Dissociation of Selective and Suppressive Processes in Visual Attention


Matthew K. Belmonte and Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd

NeuroImage 19(1):180-189 (2003)

Address for correspondence: belmonte@mit.edu

ABSTRACT: Visual spatial attention is associated with activation in parietal regions as well as with modulation of visual activity in ventral occipital cortex. Within the parietal lobe, localisation of activity has been hampered by variation in individual anatomy. Using fMRI within regions of interest derived from individual functional maps, we examined the response of superior parietal lobule, intraparietal sulcus, and ventral occipital cortex in 11 normal adults as attention was directed to the left and right visual hemifields during bilateral visual stimulation. Activation in ventral occipital cortex was augmented contralateral to the attended hemifield (p < 0.006), while intraparietal activation was augmented ipsilaterally (p < 0.009), and superior parietal lobule showed no modulation of activity as a function of attended hemifield. These findings suggest that spatial enhancement of relevant stimuli in ventral occipital cortex is complemented by an intraparietal response associated with suppression of, or preparation of a reflexive shift of attention toward, irrelevant stimuli. The spatial attention system in superior parietal cortex, in contrast, may be driven to equal degrees by currently attended stimuli and by stimuli that are potential targets of attention.

To receive a password that will enable you to download a reprint, enter your email address here:

DOWNLOAD REPRINT (requires password)

CITED IN PUBLICATIONS BY OTHERS:

  1. Kirkham NZ, Diamond A. Sorting between theories of perseveration: performance in conflict tasks requires memory, attention and inhibition - Response. Developmental Science 6(5):474-476 (November 2003).
  2. Haist F, Adamo M, Westerfield M, Courchesne E, Townsend J. The functional neuroanatomy of spatial attention in autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Neuropsychology 27(3):425-458 (2005).
  3. Ruiz Contreras A, Cansino S. Neurofisiología de la interacción entre la atención y la memoria episódica: revisión de estudios en modalidad visual. Revista de Neurología 41(12):733-743 (16 December 2005).
  4. Schmitz N, Rubia K, Daly E, Smith A, Williams S, Murphy DGM. Neural correlates of executive function in autistic spectrum disorders. Biological Psychiatry 59(1):7-16 (1 January 2006).
  5. Smith AT, Cotillon-Williams NM, Williams AL. Attentional modulation in the human visual cortex: the time-course of the BOLD response and its implications. NeuroImage 29(1):328-334 (1 January 2006).
  6. Li G, Cheung RTF, Gao JH, Lee TMC, Tan LH, Fox PT, Jack CR, Yang ES. Cognitive processing in Chinese literate and illiterate subjects: an fMRI study. Human Brain Mapping 27(2):144-152 (February 2006).
  7. Landau B, Hoffman J, Kurz N. Object recognition with severe spatial deficits in Williams syndrome: sparing and breakdown. Cognition 100(3):483-510 (July 2006).
  8. Sokhadze E, Baruth J, Tasman A, Sears L, Mathai G, El-Baz A, Casanova MF. Event-related potential study of novelty processing abnormalities in autism. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 34(1):37-51 (March 2009).
  9. Sokhadze EM, El-Baz A, Baruth J, Mathai G, Sears L, Casanova MF. Effects of low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on gamma frequency oscillations and event-related potentials during processing of illusory figures in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 39(4):619-634 (April 2009).
  10. Toepper M, Gebhardt H, Beblo T, Thomas C, Driessen M, Bischoff M, Blecker CR, Vaitl D, Sammer G. Functional correlates of distractor suppression during spatial working memory encoding. Neuroscience 165(4):1244-1253 (17 February 2010).
  11. Sokhadze E, Baruth J, Tasman A, Mansoor M, Ramaswamy R, Sears L, Mathai G, El-Baz A, Casanova MF. Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) affects event-related potential measures of novelty processing in autism. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 35(2):147-161 (June 2010).
  12. Kim Y, Grabowecky M, Paller KA, Suzuki S. Differential roles of frequency-following and frequency-doubling visual responses revealed by evoked neural harmonics. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23(8):1875-1886 (August 2011).
  13. Springer A, Beyer J, Derrfuss J, Volz KG, Hannover B. Seeing you or the scene? self-construals modulate inhibitory mechanisms of attention. Social Cognition 30(2):133-152 (April 2012).

CITED IN MY OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

  1. Belmonte MK, Yurgelun-Todd DA. Functional anatomy of impaired selective attention and compensatory processing in autism. Cognitive Brain Research 17(3):651-664 (October 2003).
  2. Belmonte MK. Abnormal visual motion processing as a neural endophenotype of autism. Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive / Current Psychology of Cognition 23(1-2):65-74 (2005).
  3. Belmonte MK, Gomot M, Baron-Cohen S. Visual attention in autism families: ‘unaffected’ sibs share atypical frontal activation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 51(3):259-276 (March 2010).