Time course of cross-hemispheric spatial updating in the human parietal cortex

In human parietal cortex, the retinal location of a just seen visual stimulus is updated from one hemisphere to the other, when a horizontal eye movement brings the representation of the stimulus into the opposite visual hemifield. The present study aimed to elucidate the time course of this process. Twelve subjects performed an updating task, in which a filled circle was shown before a horizontal saccade, requiring updating of stimulus location, and a control task without visual stimulation before the saccade. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrooculogram (EOG) were recorded while subjects performed the tasks and LORETA source analysis was performed on event-related potential (ERP) components. ERP amplitudes were more positive in the updating condition in comparison to the control condition in two latency windows. An early positive wave starting at about 50 ms after saccade offset and originating in the posterior parietal cortex contralateral to saccade direction probably reflects the integration of saccade-related and visual information and thus the updating process. A shift of the representation of the to-be-updated stimulus to the opposite hemisphere is reflected in a later component starting approximately 400 ms after saccade offset, which is related to memory and originates in the PPC ipsilateral to saccade direction and thus contralateral to the spatial location of the updated visual stimulus.