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Inhibition of return in spatial attention: direct evidence for collicular generation

Abstract

Visuomotor pathways in the vertebrate midbrain mediate rapid, reflexive orienting to abrupt changes. Using the 'inhibition of return' (IOR) mechanism, the attentional system favors novel spatial locations by inhibiting already scanned ones1. In a rare patient with a unilateral lesion restricted to the dorsal midbrain, we demonstrate that IOR is generated within the midbrain superior colliculus.

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Figure 1: Neuroimage of a 46-year-old patient, SG.
Figure 2: Experimental procedure.
Figure 3: Median detection RTs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant to A. Henik from the Israel Science Foundation by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

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Correspondence to Avishai Henik.

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Sapir, A., Soroker, N., Berger, A. et al. Inhibition of return in spatial attention: direct evidence for collicular generation. Nat Neurosci 2, 1053–1054 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/15977

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