Abstract
Top-down attention to spatial and temporal cues has been thoroughly studied in the visual domain. However, because the neural systems that are important for auditory top-down temporal attention (i.e., attention based on time interval cues) remain undefined, the differences in brain activity between directed attention to auditory spatial location (compared with time intervals) are unclear. Using fMRI (magnetic resonance imaging), we measured the activations caused by cue-target paradigms by inducing the visual cueing of attention to an auditory target within a spatial or temporal domain. Imaging results showed that the dorsal frontoparietal network (dFPN), which consists of the bilateral intraparietal sulcus and the frontal eye field, responded to spatial orienting of attention, but activity was absent in the bilateral frontal eye field (FEF) during temporal orienting of attention. Furthermore, the fMRI results indicated that activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) was significantly stronger during spatial orienting of attention than during temporal orienting of attention, while the DLPFC showed no significant differences between the two processes. We conclude that the bilateral dFPN and the right VLPFC contribute to auditory spatial orienting of attention. Furthermore, specific activations related to temporal cognition were confirmed within the superior occipital gyrus, tegmentum, motor area, thalamus and putamen.
Highlights
The widely used experimental paradigm used to study orienting of visual spatial attention was first developed by M.I
Right hemisphere dominance has been reported during top-down visual spatial attention tasks involving the inferior parietal lobe/temporal parietal junction (IPL/TPJ), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) [4]
The small volume correction (SVC) results indicated that the middle temporal gyrus (MTG), inferior parietal sulcus (IPS) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) were activated significantly more during spatial tasks compared with temporal and neutral tasks
Summary
The widely used experimental paradigm used to study orienting of visual spatial attention was first developed by M.I. In this paradigm, a spatial cue (usually an arrow) is presented in the center of the visual field (pointing either left or right), providing a spatial hint of the location of an upcoming target stimulus. A spatial cue (usually an arrow) is presented in the center of the visual field (pointing either left or right), providing a spatial hint of the location of an upcoming target stimulus Using this information, participants can predict the location of a target and voluntarily pay attention to that location. To determine the neural correlates involved in auditory topdown temporal attention and to compare them with the neural correlates involved in auditory top-down spatial attention, the current study was designed to investigate the areas of the brain activated by auditory targets following a spatial or temporal visual pre-cues, respectively. Specific activations related to temporal cognition were confirmed within the superior occipital gyrus, tegmentum, motor area, thalamus and putamen
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
