Attentional control during conflict: Causal contributions and interactions of fronto-parietal corties in the human brain
Final Report Abstract
We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to perturb the parieto-frontal network for spatial attention. Using the flanker task, we showed that the spatial attention usually recruited for the distracting flanker can actually be reduced, resulting in a better ability to concentrate on the target and thus reduced reaction times and decision rate, by applying TMS pulses to predefined sites in the parietal and frontal cortex at and around parietal P4 and frontal FEF. We could demonstrate that in each cortex and cortical area, there exist an optimal site. Stimulation of these hotspots interferes the strongest with the flanker task in the sense of a strong reduction of the spatial attention allocated to the distracting flanker. The same holds true for the timing in respect to the onset of the visual task at which the pulses are presented and the temporal interaction of the pulses applied to the parietal and frontal hotspots. We could successfully derive on optimal point in time to apply the parietal and frontal pulses and determine which of the two was contributing more to the perturbation, or whether the combination of the two was actually needed. At the same time, the data show a strong variability in respect to both, the exact spatial position of the parietal and frontal hotspots and the exact timing of the best points in time (hottimes), and the interaction. We have not been able to distinguish whether these inter-individual variances stem from a deficiency of the methods with which we localised the frontal and parietal stimulation sites in each cortex or whether they reflect true spatial differences of the underlying cortical sites that contribute to the parieto-frontal attention network, so far. Although the combination of classical on-skull measures (as established for EEG recordings) and video-based frameless stereotaxy is apt to increase our confidence in the quality of the locations, we conclude that more research is needed to resolve these issues.
Publications
- (2013) Influence of stimulus type on effects of flanker, flanker position, and trial sequence in a saccadic eye movement task. Q J Exp Psychol 66(11):2253-67
Peschke C, Hilgetag CC, Olk B
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2013.777464) - (2013) Measuring the allocation of attention in the Stroop task: evidence from eye movement patterns. Psychol Res. 77(2): 106-15
Olk B
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-011-0405-9) - (2013) Should I stay or should I go--cognitive conflict in multi-attribute signals probed with East and West German 'Ampelmännchen' traffic signs. PLoS One. 8(5): e64712
Peschke C, Olk B, Hilgetag CC
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064712) - (2014) Measuring effects of voluntary attention: a comparison among predictive arrow, colour, and number cues. Q J Exp Psychol. 67(10):2025-41
Olk B, Tsankova E, Petca AR, Wilhelm AF
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2014.898670) - (2014) Occipitoparietal alpha-band responses to the graded allocation of top-down spatial attention. J Neurophysiol.112(6):1307-16
Dombrowe I, Hilgetag CC
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00654.2013) - (2015) Attention and control of manual responses in cognitive conflict: Findings from TMS perturbation studies. Neuropsychologia 74:7-20
Olk B, Peschke C, Hilgetag CC
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.02.008) - (2015) The effect of 10 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of posterior parietal cortex on visual attention. PLoS One 10(5): e0126802
Dombrowe I, Juravle G, Alavash M, Gießing C, Hilgetag CC
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126802) - (2016) Selective perturbation of cognitive conflict in the human brain-A combined fMRI and rTMS study. Sci Rep. 6:38700
Peschke C, Köster R, Korsch M, Frühholz S, Thiel CM, Herrmann M, Hilgetag CC
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38700) - “Causal mapping of parietal and frontal cortical regions of the human brain contributing to perceptual conflict”. 10th Forum of European Neurosciences (FENS) 2016 in Copenhagen
Kandil, FI, Olk, B & Hilgetag, CH
- “Identification of parietal and frontal cortical regions of the human brain that contribute to perceptual conflict by causal TMS”. 6th Internatl Conference on Transcranial Brain Stimulation (TBS) 2016 in Göttingen
Kandil, FI, Olk, B & Hilgetag, CH
- (2017) Female vs. Male Ampelmännchen-Gender-Specific Reaction Times to Male and Female Traffic Light Figures. Front Psychol 8:690
Kandil FI, Olk B, Hilgetag CC
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00690) - (2018). Measuring visual search and distraction in immersive virtual reality. Royal Society Open Science 5, Issue 5
Olk, B, Dinu, A, Zielinski, DJ, Kopper, R
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172331) - “Causal mapping and chronometry of parietal and frontal human brain regions contributing to perceptual conflict”. 11th Forum of European Neurosciences (FENS) 2018 in Berlin
Kandil, FI, Olk, B & Hilgetag, CH
