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

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, July 25, 2007, 27(30):7963-7973; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0031-07.2007

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 Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI 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 ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Martinez, A. Articles by Hillyard, S. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Martinez, A. Articles by Hillyard, S. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
The Role of Spatial Attention in the Selection of Real and Illusory Objects

Antígona Martinez,^1,2 Dhakshin S. Ramanathan,¹ John J. Foxe,² Daniel C. Javitt,² and Steven A. Hillyard¹

¹Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0608, and ²Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, New York 10962

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Antigona Martinez, Department of Neurosciences–0608, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0608. Email: antigona{at}ucsd.edu

Selective attention may be flexibly directed toward particular locations in the visual field (spatial attention) or to entire object configurations (object-based attention). A key question is whether spatial attention plays a direct role in the selection of objects, perhaps by spreading its facilitatory influence throughout the boundaries of an object. We studied the relationship between spatial and object-based attention in a design in which subjects attended to brief offsets of one corner of a real or illusory square form. Object-selective attention was indexed by differences in event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activations to unattended corner offsets in conditions in which the objects were intact versus fragmented or absent. This design ensured that object-based attention effects were not an artifact of attention being guided by simple directional cues such as parallel lines, which may have occurred in previous studies. Both space-based and object-based attention were associated with enhanced negative ERPs (N1 component at 140–180 ms) that were colocalized with BOLD activations in lateral occipital cortex (LOC). These results provide physiological evidence that directing spatial attention to one part of an object (whether real or illusory) facilitates the processing of the entire object at the level of the LOC and thus contributes directly to object-based selective attention.

Key words: ERPs; attention; object attention; fMRI; dipoles; LOC

---

Received Jan. 4, 2007; revised April 28, 2007; accepted May 10, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Antigona Martinez, Department of Neurosciences–0608, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0608. Email: antigona{at}ucsd.edu

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

Strategic Control of Attention to Objects and Locations

Adam S. Greenberg and Leon Gmeindl
J. Neurosci. 2008 28: 564-565. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. S. Greenberg and L. Gmeindl Strategic Control of Attention to Objects and Locations J. Neurosci., January 16, 2008; 28(3): 564 - 565. [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help