Differences in rhythmic neural activity supporting the temporal and spatial cueing of attention. Meehan, C. E, Wiesman, A. I, Spooner, R. K, Schantell, M., Eastman, J. A, & Wilson, T. W Cereb. Cortex, 31(11):4933–4944, Oxford University Press (OUP), October, 2021.
abstract   bibtex   
The neural processes serving the orienting of attention toward goal-relevant stimuli are generally examined with informative cues that direct visual attention to a spatial location. However, cues predicting the temporal emergence of an object are also known to be effective in attentional orienting but are implemented less often. Differences in the neural oscillatory dynamics supporting these divergent types of attentional orienting have only rarely been examined. In this study, we utilized magnetoencephalography and an adapted Posner cueing task to investigate the spectral specificity of neural oscillations underlying these different types of attentional orienting (i.e., spatial vs. temporal). We found a spectral dissociation of attentional cueing, such that alpha (10-16 Hz) oscillations were central to spatial orienting and theta (3-6 Hz) oscillations were critical to temporal orienting. Specifically, we observed robust decreases in alpha power during spatial orienting in key attention areas (i.e., lateral occipital, posterior cingulate, and hippocampus), along with strong theta increases during temporal orienting in the primary visual cortex. These results suggest that the oscillatory dynamics supporting attentional orienting are spectrally and anatomically specific, such that spatial orienting is served by stronger alpha oscillations in attention regions, whereas temporal orienting is associated with stronger theta responses in visual sensory regions.
@ARTICLE{Meehan2021-ll,
  title     = "Differences in rhythmic neural activity supporting the temporal
               and spatial cueing of attention",
  author    = "Meehan, Chloe E and Wiesman, Alex I and Spooner, Rachel K and
               Schantell, Mikki and Eastman, Jacob A and Wilson, Tony W",
  abstract  = "The neural processes serving the orienting of attention toward
               goal-relevant stimuli are generally examined with informative
               cues that direct visual attention to a spatial location.
               However, cues predicting the temporal emergence of an object are
               also known to be effective in attentional orienting but are
               implemented less often. Differences in the neural oscillatory
               dynamics supporting these divergent types of attentional
               orienting have only rarely been examined. In this study, we
               utilized magnetoencephalography and an adapted Posner cueing
               task to investigate the spectral specificity of neural
               oscillations underlying these different types of attentional
               orienting (i.e., spatial vs. temporal). We found a spectral
               dissociation of attentional cueing, such that alpha (10-16 Hz)
               oscillations were central to spatial orienting and theta (3-6
               Hz) oscillations were critical to temporal orienting.
               Specifically, we observed robust decreases in alpha power during
               spatial orienting in key attention areas (i.e., lateral
               occipital, posterior cingulate, and hippocampus), along with
               strong theta increases during temporal orienting in the primary
               visual cortex. These results suggest that the oscillatory
               dynamics supporting attentional orienting are spectrally and
               anatomically specific, such that spatial orienting is served by
               stronger alpha oscillations in attention regions, whereas
               temporal orienting is associated with stronger theta responses
               in visual sensory regions.",
  journal   = "Cereb. Cortex",
  publisher = "Oxford University Press (OUP)",
  volume    =  31,
  number    =  11,
  pages     = "4933--4944",
  month     =  oct,
  year      =  2021,
  keywords  = "attentional orienting; magnetoencephalography; neural
               oscillations; spatial attention; temporal attention",
  copyright = "https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open\_access/funder\_policies/chorus/standard\_publication\_model",
  language  = "en"
}

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