Work

Attention selectively enhances collision sensitivity in the superficial SC, PBGN and centromedial amygdala to looming stimuli in the upper visual field

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Accurate detection of impending collisions is essential for survival. While multiple subcortical pathways have been implicated in the detection of looming stimuli, the roles of top-down attention and conscious awareness in this process remain unclear. Using high-resolution fMRI, we investigated how top-down attention and conscious awareness influence subcortical processing of approaching objects on collision versus near-miss trajectories. In healthy participants, the superficial layers of the superior colliculus (SCs), the parabigeminal nucleus (PBGN), and the centromedial amygdala (CMA) exhibited significantly stronger activation to hit-nasion than to near-miss trajectories in the upper visual field, but only when participants attended to the approaching object. Correlation and path analysis of collision sensitivity and beta-series functional connectivity consistently revealed a significant SC-PBGN connection. For stimuli presented in the blind visual field of hemianopic patients, significant functional connectivity was observed between the SC and both the pulvinar and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in response to collision trajectories. Together, these findings suggest that attention selectively enhances collision sensitivity in the SCs-PBGN-CMA pathway for accurate detection of collision trajectory in the upper visual field, whereas the SC-pulvinar and SC-VTA pathways are associated with collision detection in the absence of conscious awareness.

Source: Imaging Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1162/imag.a.1432

Authors: Jinyou Zou, Ye Wang, Chencan Qian, Peng Zhang

Institutions: Central South University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Institute of Biophysics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Visual perception and processing mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, National Key Research and Development Program of China