Nature Neuroscience
3, 284 - 291 (2000)
doi:10.1038/72999
The neural mechanisms of top-down attentional controlJ. B. Hopfinger1, M. H. Buonocore2
& G. R. Mangun31
Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology,
One Shields Ave.,University of California, Davis, Davis,
California 95616, USA
2
Department of Radiology, University of California,
Davis Medical Center, 4701 X St., Sacramento,
California 95817, USA
3
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, LSRC
Bldg., Rm. B203, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
27708, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to G. R. Mangun mangun@duke.eduSelective visual attention involves dynamic interplay between attentional
control systems and sensory brain structures. We used event-related functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a cued spatial-attention task to
dissociate brain activity related to attentional control from that related
to selective processing of target stimuli. Distinct networks were engaged
by attention-directing cues versus subsequent targets. Superior frontal, inferior
parietal and superior temporal cortex were selectively activated by cues,
indicating that these structures are part of a network for voluntary attentional
control. This control biased activity in multiple visual cortical areas, resulting
in selective sensory processing of relevant visual targets.
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