scholarly journals Brain areas associated with visual spatial attention display topographic organization during auditory spatial attention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzvetan Popov ◽  
Bart Gips ◽  
Nathan Weisz ◽  
Ole Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Auditory Target ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Retinotopic Organization ◽  
Visual Cortical

It is well-established that power modulations of alpha oscillations (8-14 Hz) reflect the retinotopic organization of visuospatial attention. To what extend this organization generalizes to other sensory modalities is a topic of ongoing scientific debate. Here, we designed an auditory paradigm eliminating any visual input in which participants were required to attend to upcoming sounds from one of 24 loudspeakers arranged in a horizontal circular array around the head. Maintaining the location of an auditory cue was associated with a topographically modulated distribution of posterior alpha power resembling the findings known from visual attention. Alpha power modulations in all electrodes allowed us to predict the sound location in the horizontal plane using a forward encoding model. Importantly, this prediction was still possible, albeit weaker, when derived from the horizontal electrooculogram capturing saccadic behavior. We conclude that attending to an auditory target engages oculomotor and visual cortical areas in a topographic manner akin to the retinotopic organization associated with visual attention suggesting that the spatial distribution of alpha power reflects the supramodal organization of egocentric space.

Visual Spatial Attention in Migraine Sufferers in Postictal and Interictal Phases: An Event-Related Potential Study

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.H. de Koning ◽  
J.C. Woestenburg ◽  
M. Elton
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Migraine Attack ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Significant Enhancement ◽  
Pathophysiological Mechanism ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Visual Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial

Migraineurs with and without aura (MWAs and MWOAs) as well as controls were measured twice with an interval of 7 days. The first session of recordings and tests for migraineurs was held about 7 hours after a migraine attack. We hypothesized that electrophysiological changes in the posterior cerebral cortex related to visual spatial attention are influenced by the level of arousal in migraineurs with aura, and that this varies over the course of time. ERPs related to the active visual attention task manifested significant differences between controls and both types of migraine sufferers for the N200, suggesting a common pathophysiological mechanism for migraineurs. Furthermore, migraineurs without aura (MWOAs) showed a significant enhancement for the N200 at the second session, indicating the relevance of time of measurement within migraine studies. Finally, migraineurs with aura (MWAs) showed significantly enhanced P240 and P300 components at central and parietal cortical sites compared to MWOAs and controls, which seemed to be maintained over both sessions and could be indicative of increased noradrenergic activity in MWAs.

scholarly journals Topographic specificity of alpha power during auditory spatial attention

NeuroImage ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 116360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqi Deng ◽  
Inyong Choi ◽  
Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention

scholarly journals Topographic specificity of alpha power during auditory spatial attention

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqi Deng ◽  
Inyong Choi ◽  
Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Spectral Band ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Auditory Attention ◽  
Target Sequence ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Visual Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Topographical Distribution ◽  
Subject Specific

AbstractVisual and somatosensory spatial attention both induce parietal alpha (7-14 Hz) oscillations whose topographical distribution depends on the direction of spatial attentional focus. In the auditory domain, contrasts of parietal alpha power for leftward and rightward attention reveal a qualitatively similar lateralization; however, it is not clear whether alpha lateralization changes monotonically with the direction of auditory attention as it does for visual spatial attention. In addition, most previous studies of alpha oscillation did not consider subject-specific differences in alpha frequency, but simply analyzed power in a fixed spectral band. Here, we recorded electroencephalography in human subjects when they directed attention to one of five azimuthal locations. After a cue indicating the direction of an upcoming target sequence of spoken syllables (yet before the target began), alpha power changed in a task specific manner. Subject-specific peak alpha frequencies differed consistently between frontocentral electrodes and parieto-occipital electrodes, suggesting multiple neural generators of task-related alpha. Parieto-occipital alpha increased over the hemisphere ipsilateral to attentional focus compared to the contralateral hemisphere, and changed systematically as the direction of attention shifted from far left to far right. These results showing that parietal alpha lateralization changes smoothly with the direction of auditory attention as in visual spatial attention provide further support to the growing evidence that the frontoparietal attention network is supramodal.

Space-Time Compatibility Effects in the Auditory Modality

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Kong ◽  
Xuqun You
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Stimulus Input ◽  
Motor Responses ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Temporal Concepts ◽  
Auditory Tasks

Previous research suggests that past and future temporal concepts are spatially represented from left to right along a mental line. And these concepts can both prime motor responses to left or right space and direct visual spatial attention. The present study aimed at investigating the nature of this space-time conceptual metaphor in different auditory tasks. In the first experiment, subjects categorized time-related words (past or future) that were presented binaurally. In the second experiment, subjects detected left-ear or right-ear targets following time-related words. The similar space-time compatibility effects were found in these two experiments. Our results demonstrate that the activation of temporal concepts can both prime motor responses to left or right space and influence the orientation of auditory spatial attention, suggesting that the modality of the stimulus input is unimportant for the left-right mapping of time. These results are explained by the “intermediate coding” account.

Neuronal Mechanisms of Attentional Control

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey L. Clark ◽  
Behrad Noudoost ◽  
Robert J. Schafer ◽  
Tirin Moore
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Extrastriate Cortex ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Electrical Microstimulation ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Neuronal Mechanisms ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
Visual Cortical

Covert spatial attention prioritizes the processing of stimuli at a given peripheral location, away from the direction of gaze, and selectively enhances visual discrimination, speed of processing, contrast sensitivity, and spatial resolution at the attended location. While correlates of this type of attention, which are believed to underlie perceptual benefits, have been found in a variety of visual cortical areas, more recent observations suggest that these effects may originate from frontal and parietal areas. Evidence for a causal role in attention is especially robust for the Frontal Eye Field, an oculomotor area within the prefrontal cortex. FEF firing rates have been shown to reflect the location of voluntarily deployed covert attention in a variety of tasks, and these changes in firing rate precede those observed in extrastriate cortex. In addition, manipulation of FEF activity—whether via electrical microstimulation, pharmacologically, or operant conditioning—can produce attention-like effects on behaviour and can modulate neural signals within posterior visual areas. We review this evidence and discuss the role of the FEF in visual spatial attention.

scholarly journals Exogenous capture of visual spatial attention by olfactory-trigeminal stimuli

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0252943
Author(s):  
Matthieu Ischer ◽  
Géraldine Coppin ◽  
Axel De Marles ◽  
Myriam Essellier ◽  
Christelle Porcherot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Trigeminal System ◽  
Alert System ◽  
Visual Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Targets ◽  
The Individual

The extent to which a nasal whiff of scent can exogenously orient visual spatial attention remains poorly understood in humans. In a series of seven studies, we investigated the existence of an exogenous capture of visual spatial attention by purely trigeminal (i.e., CO2) and both olfactory and trigeminal stimuli (i.e., eucalyptol). We chose these stimuli because they activate the trigeminal system which can be considered as an alert system and are thus supposedly relevant for the individual, and thus prone to capture attention. We used them as lateralized cues in a variant of a visual spatial cueing paradigm. In valid trials, trigeminal cues and visual targets were presented on the same side whereas in invalid trials they were presented on opposite sides. To characterize the dynamics of the cross-modal attentional capture, we manipulated the interval between the onset of the trigeminal cues and the visual targets (from 580 to 1870 ms). Reaction times in trigeminal valid trials were shorter than all other trials, but only when this interval was around 680 or 1170 ms for CO2 and around 610 ms for eucalyptol. This result reflects that both pure trigeminal and olfactory-trigeminal stimuli can exogenously capture humans’ spatial visual attention. We discuss the importance of considering the dynamics of this cross-modal attentional capture.

scholarly journals Probing the limits of alpha power lateralization as a neural marker of selective attention in middle-aged and older listeners

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Tune ◽  
Malte Wöstmann ◽  
Jonas Obleser
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Auditory Attention ◽  
Hemispheric Lateralization ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention ◽  
Neural Marker

AbstractIn recent years, hemispheric lateralization of alpha power has emerged as a neural mechanism thought to underpin spatial attention across sensory modalities. Yet, how healthy aging, beginning in middle adulthood, impacts the modulation of lateralized alpha power supporting auditory attention remains poorly understood. In the current electroencephalography (EEG) study, middle-aged and older adults (N = 29; ~40-70 years) performed a dichotic listening task that simulates a challenging, multi-talker scenario. We examined the extent to which the modulation of 8-12 Hz alpha power would serve as neural marker of listening success across age. With respect to the increase in inter-individual variability with age, we examined an extensive battery of behavioral, perceptual, and neural measures. Similar to findings on younger adults, middle-aged and older listeners′ auditory spatial attention induced robust lateralization of alpha power, which synchronized with the speech rate. Notably, the observed relationship between this alpha lateralization and task performance did not co-vary with age. Instead, task performance was strongly related to an individual’s attentional and working memory capacity. Multivariate analyses revealed a separation of neural and behavioral variables independent of age. Our results suggest that in age-varying samples as the present one, the lateralization of alpha power is neither a sufficient nor necessary neural strategy for an individual’s auditory spatial attention, as higher age might come with increased use of alternative, compensatory mechanisms. Our findings emphasize that explaining inter-individual variability will be key to understanding the role of alpha oscillations in auditory attention in the aging listener.

Retinotopic organization of early visual spatial attention effects as revealed by PET and ERPs

1997 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 280-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G. Woldorff ◽  
P.T. Fox ◽  
M. Matzke ◽  
J.L. Lancaster ◽  
S. Veeraswamy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Retinotopic Organization

Head-centred meridian effect on auditory spatial attention orienting

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 937-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Ferlazzo ◽  
Alessandro Couyoumdjian ◽  
Tullia Padovani ◽  
Marta Olivetti Belardinelli
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Endogenous Orienting ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Attention Systems ◽  
Target Locations ◽  
Meridian Effect

Six experiments examined the issue of whether one single system or separate systems underlie visual and auditory orienting of spatial attention. When auditory targets were used, reaction times were slower on trials in which cued and target locations were at opposite sides of the vertical head-centred meridian than on trials in which cued and target locations were at opposite sides of the vertical visual meridian or were not separated by any meridian. The head-centred meridian effect for auditory stimuli was apparent when targets were cued by either visual (Experiments 2, 3, and 6) or auditory cues (Experiment 5). Also, the head-centred meridian effect was found when targets were delivered either through headphones (Experiments 2, 3, and 5) or external loudspeakers (Experiment 6). Conversely, participants showed a visual meridian effect when they were required to respond to visual targets (Experiment 4). These results strongly suggest that auditory and visual spatial attention systems are indeed separate, as far as endogenous orienting is concerned.

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