Pubblicazioni

Autori:

Lega, Carlotta; Ferrante, Oscar; Marini, Francesco; Santandrea, Elisa; Cattaneo, Luigi; Chelazzi, Leonardo

Titolo:

Probing the neural mechanisms for distractor filtering and their history-contingent modulation by means of TMS

Anno:

2019

Tipologia prodotto:

Articolo in Rivista

Tipologia ANVUR:

Articolo su rivista

Lingua:

Inglese

Formato:

A Stampa

Referee:

Sì

Nome rivista:

Journal of Neuroscience

ISSN Rivista:

0270-6474

N° Volume:

39

Numero o Fascicolo:

38

Editore:

Society for Neuroscience

Intervallo pagine:

7591-7603

Parole chiave:

dorsal attention network; distraction filtering; interference; transcranial magnetic stimulation; relevant targets; frontal eye field

Breve descrizione dei contenuti:

In visual search, the presence of a salient, yet task-irrelevant, distractor in the stimulus array interferes with target selection and slows-down performance. Neuroimaging data point to a key role of the fronto-parietal dorsal attention network in dealing with visual distractors; however, the respective roles of different nodes within the network and their hemispheric specialization are still unresolved. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to evaluate the causal role of two key regions of the dorsal attention network in resisting attentional capture by a salient singleton distractor: the frontal eye field (FEF) and the cortex within the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). The task of the participants (male/female human volunteers) was to discriminate the pointing direction of a target arrow while ignoring a task-irrelevant salient distractor. Immediately after stimulus onset, triple-pulse 10Hz TMS was delivered either to IPS or FEF on either side of the brain. Results indicated that TMS over the right FEF significantly reduced the behavioral cost engendered by the salient distractor relative to left FEF stimulation. No such effect was obtained with stimulation of IPS on either side of brain. Interestingly, this FEF-dependent reduction in distractor interference interacted with the contingent trial history, being maximal when no distractor was present on the previous trial relative to when there was one. Our results provide direct causal evidence that the right FEF houses key mechanisms for distractor filtering, pointing to a pivotal role of the frontal cortex of the right hemisphere in limiting interference from an irrelevant but attention-grabbing stimulus.SIGNIFICANT STATEMENTVisually conspicuous stimuli attract our attention automatically and interfere with performance by diverting resources away from the main task. Here, we applied TMS over four fronto-parietal cortex locations (FEF and IPS in each hemisphere) to identify regions of the dorsal attention network that help limit interference from task-irrelevant, salient distractors. Results indicate that the right FEF participates in distractor-filtering mechanisms that are recruited when a distracting stimulus is encountered. Moreover, right FEF implements adjustments in distraction-filtering mechanisms following recent encounters with distractors. Altogether, these findings indicate a different hemispheric contribution of the left vs. right dorsal frontal cortex to distraction filtering. This study expands our understanding of how our brains select relevant targets in the face of task-irrelevant, salient distractors.

Pagina Web:

https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2740-18.2019

Id prodotto:

109892

Handle IRIS:

11562/998681

ultima modifica:

15 novembre 2022

Citazione bibliografica:

Lega, Carlotta; Ferrante, Oscar; Marini, Francesco; Santandrea, Elisa; Cattaneo, Luigi; Chelazzi, Leonardo, Probing the neural mechanisms for distractor filtering and their history-contingent modulation by means of TMS «Journal of Neuroscience» , vol. 39 , n. 38 , 2019 , pp. 7591-7603

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