Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Opposite biases in salience-based selection for the left and right posterior parietal cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 9, pages 740–742 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Visual selection is determined in part by the saliency of stimuli. We assessed the brain mechanisms determining attentional responses to saliency. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was applied to the left and right posterior parietal cortices (PPC) immediately before participants were asked to identify a compound letter. rTMS to the right PPC disrupted the guidance of attention toward salient stimuli, whereas rTMS to the left PPC affected the ability to bias selection away from salient stimuli. We conclude that right and left PPC have opposite roles in biasing selection to and from salient stimuli in the environment.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Examples of stimuli for the global and local tasks.
Figure 2: rTMS over right and left PPC has differential effects on selection and suppression of saliency.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Itti, L. & Koch, K. Vision Res. 40, 1489–1506 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Corbetta, M., Kincade, J.M., Ollinger, J.M., McAvoy, M.P. & Shhulman, G.L. Nat. Neurosci. 3, 292–297 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kanwisher, N. & Wocjiulik, E. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 1, 91–100 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Mort, D. et al. Brain 126, 1986–1997 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Posner, M.I., Walker, J.A., Friedrich, F. & Rafal, R.D. J. Neurosci. 4, 25–42 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Humphreys, G.W., Romani, C., Olson, A., Riddoch, M.J. & Duncan, J. Nature 372, 357–359 (1994).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Navon, D. Cognit. Psychol. 9, 353–383 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lamb, M. & Robertson, L. Percept. Psychophys. 44, 172–181 (1988).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Gottlieb, J.P., Kusunoki, M. & Goldberg, M.E. Nature 391, 481–484 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Mevorach, C., Humphreys, G.W. & Shalev, L. Neuropsychologia 44, 307–319 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Corbetta, M. & Shulman, G.L. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3, 201–215 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Rushworth, M.F., Ellison, A. & Walsh, V. Nat. Neurosci. 4, 656–661 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Fink, G.R. et al. Nature 382, 626–628 (1996).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Evans, M.A., Shedden, J.M., Hevenor, S.J. & Hahn, M.C. Neuropsychologia 38, 225–239 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. De Fockert, J., Rees, G., Frith, C. & Lavie, N. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 16, 751–759 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank A. Bagshaw and H. Allen for conducting the scanner sessions. This work was supported by grants from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council (UK).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK

    Carmel Mevorach & Glyn W Humphreys

  2. Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University Israel, 108 Ravutski St., Ra'anana, Israel

    Lilach Shalev

Authors
  1. Carmel Mevorach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Glyn W Humphreys
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lilach Shalev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmel Mevorach.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

A typical display sequence for the Global/Local task. (PDF 135 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Foci of stimulation for the 9 participants superimposed on a normalized brain. (PDF 216 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 97 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mevorach, C., Humphreys, G. & Shalev, L. Opposite biases in salience-based selection for the left and right posterior parietal cortex. Nat Neurosci 9, 740–742 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1709

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1709

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing