Dynamic Activation of Frontal, Parietal, and Sensory Regions Underlying Anticipatory Visual Spatial Attention

Abstract

Although it is well established that multiple frontal, parietal and occipital regions in humans are involved in anticipatory deployment of visual spatial attention, less is known about the electrophysiological signals in each region across multiple sub-second periods of attentional deployment. We used MEG measures of cortical stimulus-locked, signal-averaged (ERF) activity during a task in which a symbolic cue directed covert attention to the relevant location on each trial. Direction-specific attention effects occurred in different cortical regions for each of multiple time periods during the delay between the cue and imperative stimulus. A sequence of activation from V1/V2 to extrastriate, parietal and frontal regions occurred within 110 ms post-cue, possibly related to extraction of cue meaning. Direction-specific activations ~300 ms post-cue in FEF, LIP and Cuneus support early covert targeting of the cued location. This was followed by co-activation of a frontal-parietal system (SFG, MFG, LIP, IPSa, LIP) that may coordinate the transition from targeting the cued location to sustained deployment of attention to both space and feature in the last period. The last periodinvolved direction-specific activity in parietal regions and both dorsal and ventral sensory regions (LIP, IPSa, IPSv, LO, Fusiform), which was accompanied by activation that was not direction-specific in right hemisphere frontal regions (FEF, SFG, MFG). Behavioral performance corresponded with the magnitude of attention-related activity in different brain regions at each time period during deployment. The results add to the emerging electrophysiological characterization of different cortical networks that operate during anticipatory deployment of visual spatial attention.

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