The Journal of Neuroscience, May 6, 2009, 29(18):5863-5872; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0539-09.2009
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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Frontoparietal Cortex Controls Spatial Attention through Modulation of Anticipatory Alpha Rhythms
Paolo Capotosto,1
Claudio Babiloni,2,3
Gian Luca Romani,1 and
Maurizio Corbetta1,4,5,6
1Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche e Bioimmagini and Istituto di Tecnologie Avanzate Biomediche Università "G. D'Annunzio," 66013 Chieti, Italy, 2Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università di Foggia, 71100 Foggia, Italy, 3Casa di Cura San Raffaele Cassino, 03043 Cassino, Italy, and Departments of 4Neurology, 5Radiology, and 6Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
Correspondence should be addressed to either of the following: Dr. Claudio Babiloni, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Foggia, 71100 Foggia, Italy, Email: claudio.babiloni{at}uniroma1.it; or Dr. Maurizio Corbetta, Department of Neurology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, Email: mau{at}npg.wustl.edu
A dorsal frontoparietal network, including regions in intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and frontal eye field (FEF), has been hypothesized to control the allocation of spatial attention to environmental stimuli. One putative mechanism of control is the desynchronization of electroencephalography (EEG) alpha rhythms (
8–12 Hz) in visual cortex in anticipation of a visual target. We show that brief interference by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) with preparatory activity in right IPS or right FEF while subjects attend to a spatial location impairs identification of target visual stimuli
2 s later. This behavioral effect is associated with the disruption of anticipatory (prestimulus) alpha desynchronization and its spatially selective topography in parieto-occipital cortex. Finally, the disruption of anticipatory alpha rhythms in occipital cortex after right IPS- or right FEF-rTMS correlates with deficits of visual identification. These results support the causal role of the dorsal frontoparietal network in the control of visuospatial attention, and suggest that this is partly exerted through the synchronization of occipital visual neurons.
Received Feb. 2, 2009;
accepted March 23, 2009.
Correspondence should be addressed to either of the following: Dr. Claudio Babiloni, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Foggia, 71100 Foggia, Italy, Email: claudio.babiloni{at}uniroma1.it; or Dr. Maurizio Corbetta, Department of Neurology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, Email: mau{at}npg.wustl.edu