Brain areas associated with visual spatial attention display topographic organization during auditory spatial attention
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Spatially selective modulation of alpha power (8-14 Hz) is a robust finding in electrophysiological studies of visual attention, and has been recently generalized to auditory spatial attention. This modulation pattern is interpreted as reflecting a top-down mechanism for suppressing distracting input from unattended directions of sound origin. The present study on auditory spatial attention extends this interpretation by demonstrating that alpha power modulation is closely linked to oculomotor action. We designed an auditory paradigm in which participants were required to attend to upcoming sounds from one of 24 loudspeakers arranged in a circular array around the head. Maintaining the location of an auditory cue was associated with a topographically modulated distribution of posterior alpha power resembling the findings known from visual attention. Multivariate analyses allowed the prediction of the sound location in the horizontal plane. Importantly, this prediction was also possible, when derived from signals capturing saccadic activity. A control experiment on auditory spatial attention confirmed that, in absence of any visual/auditory input, lateralization of alpha power is linked to the lateralized direction of gaze. Attending to an auditory target engages oculomotor and visual cortical areas in a topographic manner akin to the retinotopic organization associated with visual attention.
Source: Cerebral Cortex
Authors: Tzvetan Popov, Bart Gips, Nathan Weisz, Ole Jensen
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,798
Awards: Phase coding in the visual system: neuronal processing coordinated by brain oscillations, Brain rhythms relate to cognition through oculomotor action: a novel framework of Oculo-Cortical Coherence (OCC), Die Begründung internationaler Zuständigkeiten in Wirtschaftssachverhalten., G2762901463, The effect of fear appeals on online privacy protection behavior, Bancs de filtres à multi-résolutions et à ondelettes pour systèmes de communication, G5679378099, G5936681456, Brain Rhythms in Cognition, Audiovisual speech entrainment in deafness, Phase coding in the visual system: neuronal processing coordinated by brain oscillations
OpenAlex ID: W3201536982