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A physiological correlate of the 'spotlight' of visual attention

Nature Neuroscience volume 2, pages 370–374 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Here we identify a neural correlate of the ability to precisely direct visual attention to locations other than the center of gaze. Human subjects performed a task requiring shifts of visual attention (but not of gaze) from one location to the next within a dense array of targets and distracters while functional MRI was used to map corresponding displacements of neural activation within visual cortex. The cortical topography of the purely attention-driven activity precisely matched the topography of activity evoked by the cued targets when presented in isolation. Such retinotopic mapping of attention-related activation was found in primary visual cortex, as well as in dorsomedial and ventral occipital visual areas previously implicated in processing the attended target features. These results identify a physiological basis for the effects of spatially directed visual attention.

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Figure 1: Retinotopic attentional modulation compared to activation evoked by cued targets alone.
Figure 2: Comparison of visual field topography (coded by temporal phase of fMRI response) for attentional foci (y-axis) versus single segments (x-axis).
Figure 3: Further characterization of attentional effects.
Figure 4: Amplitude and timecourse of attentional modulation.
Figure 5: Example of retinotopic mapping of cortical activation in an individual subject.

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Acknowledgements

Our thanks to Jon Wieser for technical assistance. Supported by NIH grants EY10244 and MH51358 to EAD and a Keck Foundation grant to the Medical College of Wisconsin.

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  1. Department of Cellular Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, 53226, Wisconsin, USA

    Julie A. Brefczynski & Edgar A. DeYoe

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  1. Julie A. Brefczynski
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  2. Edgar A. DeYoe
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Correspondence to Edgar A. DeYoe.

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Brefczynski, J., DeYoe, E. A physiological correlate of the 'spotlight' of visual attention. Nat Neurosci 2, 370–374 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/7280

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