Supramodal effect of rightward prismatic adaptation on spatial representations within the ventral attentional system

Rightward prismatic adaptation (R-PA) was shown to alleviate not only visuo-spatial but also auditory symptoms in neglect. The neural mechanisms underlying the effect of R-PA have been previously investigated in visual tasks, demonstrating a shift of hemispheric dominance for visuo-spatial attention from the right to the left hemisphere both in normal subjects and in patients. We have investigated whether the same neural mechanisms underlie the supramodal effect of R-PA on auditory attention. Normal subjects underwent a brief session of R-PA, which was preceded and followed by an fMRI evaluation during which subjects detected targets within the left, central and right space in the auditory or visual modality. R-PA-related changes in activation patterns were found bilaterally in the inferior parietal lobule. In either modality, the representation of the left, central and right space increased in the left IPL, whereas the representation of the right space decreased in the right IPL. Thus, a brief exposure to R-PA modulated the representation of the auditory and visual space within the ventral attentional system. This shift in hemispheric dominance for auditory spatial attention offers a parsimonious explanation for the previously reported effects of R-PA on auditory symptoms in neglect.