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Placing a tool in the spotlight: spatial attention modulates visuomotor responses in cortex
Todd C Handy1, Jana Schaich Borg, David J Turk
1Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. tchandy@psych.ubc.ca
Neuroimage
|May 3, 2005
Summary
Spatial attention influences visuomotor processing in the brain. This study found that directing attention impacts how the supplementary motor area (SMA) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) process object-related actions, even for irrelevant objects.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Motor Control
Background:
- Visual spatial attention typically enhances visual perception.
- Its role in implicit visuomotor processing remains less understood.
- Dorsal cortical regions are implicated in visuomotor control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how spatial attention modulates implicit visuomotor processing.
- To examine brain activity in dorsal cortical regions during an attentional orienting task.
- To determine if attention affects action planning based on object category.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
- Participants performed a voluntary attentional orienting task.
- Task-irrelevant objects (tools vs. non-tools) were presented in attended locations.
Main Results:
- An interaction was observed between attention location and object location in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and left inferior parietal lobule (IPL).
- These visuomotor regions showed distinct activation patterns compared to areas modulated solely by attention or object location.
- fMRI BOLD responses revealed attention's influence on implicit action planning.
Conclusions:
- Voluntary visuospatial attention modulates implicit visuomotor processing in dorsal cortical areas.
- Findings suggest attention has consequences for the unconscious planning of object-directed actions.
- This extends the known effects of spatial attention beyond visual perception.