Delayed striate cortical activation during spatial attention

Neuron. 2002 Aug 1;35(3):575-87. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00781-x.

Abstract

Recordings of event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related magnetic fields (ERMFs) were combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study visual cortical activity in humans during spatial attention. While subjects attended selectively to stimulus arrays in one visual field, fMRI revealed stimulus-related activations in the contralateral primary visual cortex and in multiple extrastriate areas. ERP and ERMF recordings showed that attention did not affect the initial evoked response at 60-90 ms poststimulus that was localized to primary cortex, but a similarly localized late response at 140-250 ms was enhanced to attended stimuli. These findings provide evidence that the primary visual cortex participates in the selective processing of attended stimuli by means of delayed feedback from higher visual-cortical areas.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebrovascular Circulation / physiology
  • Cues
  • Evoked Potentials, Visual / physiology*
  • Feedback / physiology
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Magnetoencephalography
  • Male
  • Nerve Net / physiology
  • Neural Inhibition / physiology
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Reaction Time / physiology*
  • Space Perception / physiology*
  • Visual Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Visual Cortex / physiology*
  • Visual Fields / physiology*
  • Visual Pathways / anatomy & histology
  • Visual Pathways / physiology*