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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 19, 2005, 25(42):9602-9612; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0879-05.2005

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Visual Selection and Posterior Parietal Cortex: Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Partial Report Analyzed by Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention

June Hung,^1,2,3 Jon Driver,¹ and Vincent Walsh¹

¹Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom, ²Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, United Kingdom, and ³Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei 10507, Taiwan

Posterior parietal cortex (PPC) may contribute to visual selection by exerting top-down influences on visual processing. To seek direct evidence for this, we used 10 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over right or left PPC in nine healthy volunteers during a partial (selective) report task that allows quantitative assessment of top-down control and other parameters. Participants reported digits in a relevant color ("targets") but not those in an irrelevant color ("nontargets") from a brief masked display, in which a target could appear alone or together with an accompanying item (nontarget or target) in the same or opposite hemifield. Generally, a given target is identified better when presented with a nontarget than with another target, indicating top-down selection of task-relevant targets; this applied here with no rTMS or left PPC rTMS. However, rTMS over the right PPC changed the performance pattern. A left target no longer impeded report of a right target more strongly than did a left nontarget, whereas the greater impact of a right target than a right nontarget in disrupting report of a left target was increased. Formal analysis in terms of Bundesen's (1990) theory of visual attention indicated that right PPC rTMS diminished top-down control for the left hemifield while enhancing this for the right hemifield, particularly for bilateral two-item displays. These findings indicate a role for right PPC in top-down spatial selection, which applies even when the target is defined by a nonspatial property (here color).

Key words: parietal; transcranial magnetic stimulation; visual selectivity; extinction; spatial; attention

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Received March 4, 2005; revised August 15, 2005; accepted September 6, 2005.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Silvanto, N. Muggleton, N. Lavie, and V. Walsh The Perceptual and Functional Consequences of Parietal Top-Down Modulation on the Visual Cortex Cereb Cortex, May 30, 2008; (2008) bhn091v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Molenberghs, C. R. Gillebert, R. Peeters, and R. Vandenberghe Convergence between Lesion-Symptom Mapping and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Spatially Selective Attention in the Intact Brain J. Neurosci., March 26, 2008; 28(13): 3359 - 3373. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. T. Sack, A. Kohler, S. Bestmann, D. E. J. Linden, P. Dechent, R. Goebel, and J. Baudewig Imaging the Brain Activity Changes Underlying Impaired Visuospatial Judgments: Simultaneous fMRI, TMS, and Behavioral Studies Cereb Cortex, December 1, 2007; 17(12): 2841 - 2852. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. O'Shea, N. G. Muggleton, A. Cowey, and V. Walsh Human Frontal Eye Fields and Spatial Priming of Pop-out. J. Cogn. Neurosci., July 1, 2007; 19(7): 1140 - 1151. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Babiloni, F. Vecchio, S. Rossi, A. De Capua, S. Bartalini, M. Ulivelli, and P. M. Rossini Human Ventral Parietal Cortex Plays a Functional Role on Visuospatial Attention and Primary Consciousness. A Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study Cereb Cortex, June 1, 2007; 17(6): 1486 - 1492. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Silvanto, N. Lavie, and V. Walsh Stimulation of the Human Frontal Eye Fields Modulates Sensitivity of Extrastriate Visual Cortex J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2006; 96(2): 941 - 945. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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