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The neural mechanisms of top-down attentional control
J B Hopfinger1, M H Buonocore, G R Mangun
1Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, One Shields Ave., University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Abstract:
Selective visual attention involves dynamic interplay between attentional control systems and sensory brain structures. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a cued spatial-attention task to dissociate brain activity related to attentional control from that related to selective processing of target stimuli. Distinct networks were engaged by attention-directing cues versus subsequent targets. Superior frontal, inferior parietal and superior temporal cortex were selectively activated by cues, indicating that these structures are part of a network for voluntary attentional control. This control biased activity in multiple visual cortical areas, resulting in selective sensory processing of relevant visual targets.