Cortical fMRI Activation Produced by Attentive Tracking of Moving Targets

• DOI: 10.1152/jn.1998.80.5.2657
• Publication Date: 2017-12-25T05:04:34Z
• Authors: Jody C. Culham; Stephan A. Brandt; Patrick Cavanagh; Nancy G. Kanwisher; Anders M. Dale; Roger B. H. Tootell
• Keywords: Intraparietal sulcus; Frontal eye fields; Superior parietal lobule; Inferior parietal lobule; Parietal lobe

Culham, Jody C., Stephan A. Brandt, Patrick Cavanagh, Nancy G. Kanwisher, Anders M. Dale, and Roger B. H. Tootell. Cortical fMRI activation produced by attentive tracking of moving targets. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2657–2670, 1998. Attention can be used to keep track items, particularly when there are multiple targets interest that cannot all followed with eye movements. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was investigate cortical regions involved in tracking. flattening techniques facilitated within-subject comparisons tracking, visual motion, discrete attention shifts, In the main task, subjects viewed a display nine green “bouncing balls” mentally subset them while fixating. At start each attentive-tracking condition, several target balls (e.g., 3/9) turned red for 2 s then reverted green. Subjects previously indicated targets, which were otherwise indistinguishable from nontargets. Attentive-tracking conditions alternated passive viewing same no had been indicated. pretested an eye-movement monitor ensure they could perform task accurately For seven subjects, functional superimposed on individual's cortically unfolded surface. Comparisons between revealed bilateral parietal cortex (intraparietal sulcus, postcentral superior lobule, precuneus), frontal (frontal fields precentral sulcus), MT complex (including motion-selective areas MST). Attentional enhancement absent early weak complex. However, areas, signal change stimuli more than doubled items tracked attentively. shifting essentially identical patterns differed only magnitude activation. This suggests is not shifts objects at different spatial locations but also continuous “attentional pursuit” objects. similar, though identical, those Taken together, these results suggest mediated network includes responsible movements complex, thought motion perception. These consistent theoretical models as attentional process assigns tags registers changes their position, generating high-level percept apparent motion.