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The Journal of Neuroscience, February 11, 2009, 29(6):1784-1795; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4452-08.2009

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Effects of Sustained Spatial Attention in the Human Lateral Geniculate Nucleus and Superior Colliculus

Keith A. Schneider^1,2 and Sabine Kastner¹

¹Department of Psychology, Center for the Study of Brain, Mind and Behavior, and Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, and ²Rochester Center for Brain Imaging and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

Correspondence should be addressed to Keith A. Schneider at his present address: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri–Columbia, 210 McAlester Hall, Columbia, MO 65211. Email: schneiderkei{at}missouri.edu

The role of subcortical visual structures such as the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and the superior colliculus (SC) in the control of visual spatial attention remains poorly understood. Here, we used high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure responses in the human LGN and SC during sustained spatial attention. Subjects covertly and continuously tracked one of two segments that rotated through the visual field, composed of either moving dots or transient colored shapes. Activity in both nuclei was generally enhanced by attention, independent of the stimulus type, with the voxels responding more sensitively to stimulus contrast (those dominated by magnocellular input) exhibiting greater attentional enhancement. The LGN contained clusters of voxels exhibiting attentional enhancement or weak suppression, whereas the SC exhibited predominantly attentional enhancement, which was significantly stronger than in the LGN. The spatial distribution of the attentional effects was unrelated to the retinotopic organization in either structure. The results demonstrate that each of the major subcortical visual pathways participates in attentional selection, and their differential magnitudes of modulation suggest distinct roles.

Key words: attention; spatial attention; sustained attention; lateral geniculate nucleus; superior colliculus; thalamus

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Received Sept. 17, 2008; revised Dec. 29, 2008; accepted Jan. 3, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Keith A. Schneider at his present address: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri–Columbia, 210 McAlester Hall, Columbia, MO 65211. Email: schneiderkei{at}missouri.edu

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