QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, December 1, 2004, 24(48):10941-10949; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3669-04.2004

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (45) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Weissman, D. H. Articles by Woldorff, M. G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Weissman, D. H. Articles by Woldorff, M. G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
The Neural Mechanisms for Minimizing Cross-Modal Distraction

D. H. Weissman, L. M. Warner, and M. G. Woldorff

Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708

The neural circuitry that increases attention to goal-relevant stimuli when we are in danger of becoming distracted is a matter of active debate. To address several long-standing controversies, we asked participants to identify a letter presented either visually or auditorily while we varied the amount of cross-modal distraction from an irrelevant letter in the opposite modality. Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed three novel results. First, activity in sensory cortices that processed the relevant letter increased as the irrelevant letter became more distracting, consistent with a selective increase of attention to the relevant letter. In line with this view, an across-subjects correlation indicated that the larger the increase of activity in sensory cortices that processed the relevant letter, the less behavioral interference there was from the irrelevant letter. Second, regions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) involved in orienting attention to the relevant letter also participated in increasing attention to the relevant letter when conflicting stimuli were present. Third, we observed a novel pattern of regional specialization within the cognitive division of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for focusing attention on the relevant letter (dorsal ACC) versus detecting conflict from the irrelevant letter (rostral ACC). These findings indicate novel roles for sensory cortices, the DLPFC, and the ACC in increasing attention to goal-relevant stimulus representations when distracting stimuli conflict with behavioral objectives. Furthermore, they potentially resolve a long-standing controversy regarding the key contribution of the ACC to cognitive control.

Key words: attention; conflict; sensory cortex; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; anterior cingulate cortex; multisensory

---

Received June 29, 2004; revised October 12, 2004; accepted October 20, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. I. de Zubicaray and K. L. McMahon Auditory context effects in picture naming investigated with event-related fMRI Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, September 1, 2009; 9(3): 260 - 269. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Sadaghiani, J. X. Maier, and U. Noppeney Natural, Metaphoric, and Linguistic Auditory Direction Signals Have Distinct Influences on Visual Motion Processing J. Neurosci., May 20, 2009; 29(20): 6490 - 6499. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A.R. Mayer, A.R. Franco, J. Canive, and D.L. Harrington The Effects of Stimulus Modality and Frequency of Stimulus Presentation on Cross-modal Distraction Cereb Cortex, May 1, 2009; 19(5): 993 - 1007. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. Orr and D. H. Weissman Anterior Cingulate Cortex Makes 2 Contributions to Minimizing Distraction Cereb Cortex, March 1, 2009; 19(3): 703 - 711. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Di Martino, A. Scheres, D.S. Margulies, A.M.C. Kelly, L.Q. Uddin, Z. Shehzad, B. Biswal, J.R. Walters, F.X. Castellanos, and M.P. Milham Functional Connectivity of Human Striatum: A Resting State fMRI Study Cereb Cortex, December 1, 2008; 18(12): 2735 - 2747. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Kayser, C. I. Petkov, and N. K. Logothetis Visual Modulation of Neurons in Auditory Cortex Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2008; 18(7): 1560 - 1574. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. M. Ciaramitaro, G. T. Buracas, and G. M. Boynton Spatial and Cross-Modal Attention Alter Responses to Unattended Sensory Information in Early Visual and Auditory Human Cortex J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2007; 98(4): 2399 - 2413. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Kayser, C. I. Petkov, M. Augath, and N. K. Logothetis Functional Imaging Reveals Visual Modulation of Specific Fields in Auditory Cortex J. Neurosci., February 21, 2007; 27(8): 1824 - 1835. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Baier, A. Kleinschmidt, and N. G. Muller Cross-Modal Processing in Early Visual and Auditory Cortices depends on Expected Statistical Relationship of Multisensory Information. J. Neurosci., November 22, 2006; 26(47): 12260 - 12265. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help