Neural systems for visual orienting and their relationships to spatial working memory.

Full Abstract

We investigated neural correlates of human visual orienting using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When subjects voluntarily directed attention to a peripheral location, we recorded robust and sustained signals uniquely from the intraparietal sulcus (IPs) and superior frontal cortex (near the frontal eye field, FEF). In the ventral IPs and FEF only, the blood oxygen level dependent signal was modulated by the direction of attention. The IPs and FEF also maintained the most sustained level of activation during a 7-sec delay, when subjects maintained attention at the peripheral cued location (working memory). Therefore, the IPs and FEF form a dorsal network that controls the endogenous allocation and maintenance of visuospatial attention. A separate right hemisphere network was activated by the detection of targets at unattended locations. Activation was largely independent of the target's location (visual field). This network included among other regions the right temporo-parietal junction and the inferior frontal gyrus. We propose that this cortical network is important for reorienting to sensory events.

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Author information

Author/s: Corbetta, Maurizio (M); Kincade, J Michelle (JM); Shulman, Gordon L (GL);

Affiliation: Campus Box 8111, Room 212A, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110-1093, USA. mau(-atsign-)npg.wustl.edu

Grants: EY 00379 (Agency:NEI NIH HHS) ; EY 12148 (Agency:NEI NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Apr; vol 14 (issue 3) : pp 508-23

Dates: Created 2002/04/23; Completed 2002/05/22; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 11970810, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Attention - physiology
Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology
Female
Frontal Lobe - cytology; physiology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Neural Pathways
Orientation - physiology
Parietal Lobe - cytology; physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Space Perception - physiology

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