Interactions Between Attentional Networks and Their Influence on Perception

Background Attention can be defined as the preparedness to rapidly and accurately respond to stimuli coming from the investigators environment and to effectively select between relevant and irrelevant information. Attention is a complex cognitive function based on multiple components. A recent model postulates that attentional control in the brain is based on two discrete neural networks. The ventral (temporo-parietal - ventral frontal) network controls non-spatial aspects of attention, such as alertness and vigilance, and stimulus detection and reorientation in both hemifields. This network is lateralized towards the right hemisphere and plays a role as a 'circuit-breaker'. The dorsal (superior parietal - dorsal frontal) network controls spatial attentional shifts, is largely top-down driven, and substantially overlaps with eye movement control. This network is not functionally lateralized, each hemisphere containing dynamic topographical maps of the contralateral space. Moreover, the dorsal networks of the two hemispheres compete to direct attention to the contralateral hemispace, thereby exerting reciprocal inhibition. Hemispatial neglect - the failure to detect, orient, or respond to stimuli located in the contralesional side of space - has been interpreted in terms of pathological changes in the interaction between the two attentional networks. Neglect is very common after cerebral lesions of the right hemisphere, usually affecting the ventral attentional network. The structurally intact right dorsal network would thus receive a weakened input from the right ventral network. The ensuing imbalance in the inhibition between the dorsal networks of the two hemispheres would then result in the rightward bias in attentional allocation, typically observed in hemispatial neglect. However, little is known regarding the interactions between ventral and dorsal attentional networks and their influence on perception, and the greatest part of the evidence has been acquired through correlational approaches. The aim of this study is to further elucidate different aspects of these interactions and to investigate their influence on spatial and non-spatial attentional performance and on visual perception. Objective A first objective consists in further elucidating how and through which anatomical structures the ventral and the dorsal attentional networks interact. A second objective concerns how the interplay of dorsal and ventral attentional networks influences visual perception, in particular in cases in which visual stimuli are ambiguous. Methods Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is the principal method applied in this study. TMS is a non-invasive, painless method which is able to influence cortical areas directing attention in an interference approach and to thus establish causal relationships. Furthermore, TMS, in combination with the measurement of motor evoked potentials (MEP), allows for the assessment of the excitability of cortico-cortical circuits.