Neural basis of visuospatial attention investigated by modulation of brain activity with transcranial magnetic stimulation
Final Report Abstract
Attentional selection is the process by which behaviourally relevant information is selected for further processing in the control of action. Correlational approaches such as imaging techniques have shown that a variety of neural processes co-vary with attentional parameters. But an important part of the puzzle remains: which of these physiological changes play a causal role in which (if any) aspects of attentional selection? To explore this issue we used brain stimulation techniques during attentional selection tasks. Results from this project show a causal role of neural regions in orchestrating which information should be prioritised to guide behaviour. This was demonstrated by applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to cortical areas during performance of a classic and robust attentional task, and measuring the behavioural consequences. We argued in this project that to go more deeply into understanding attention, and in studying it further with brain stimulation methods, requires developments in recording ongoing brain activity and in pioneering new tools for measuring cognition despite the limitations imposed by use of these interference measures. Careful development of tasks, and recording brain activity especially with EEG, can demonstrate the extent to which the effects of brain stimulation mimic those occurring during normal cognition (i.e. without stimulation). In this way we were able to use brain stimulation in the form of occipital TMS pulses as a measure of ongoing cortical excitability and accordingly to compare how attentional selection operates as a function of low or high spontaneous excitability. This project also supports the view of attention as being modulated by excitability in the visual cortex. Furthermore by incorporating other methods of brain stimulation future studies can overcome some of the limitations of TMS such as the necessary time constraints.
Publications
- (2018) Combining NIBS with EEG: What Can It Tell Us About Normal Cognition?. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep (Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports) 5 (2) 165–169
Taylor, Paul Christopher John
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-018-0153-x) - (2016). The role of the dorsal medial frontal cortex in central processing limitation: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Experimental Brain Research, 234, 2447–2455
Soutschek, A., Taylor, P.C., Schubert, T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4649-x) - (2017). Cognition and higher vestibular disorders: developing tools for assessing vection. Journal of Neurology, 264, (S1), 45
Dowsett, J., McAssey, M., Dieterich, M., Taylor, P.C.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-017-8449-4) - (2018). Subthalamic stimulation, oscillatory activity and connectivity reveal functional role of STN and network mechanisms during decision making under conflict. Neuroimage, 171, 222-233
Hell, F., Taylor, P.C., Mehrkens, J.H., Bötzel, K
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.01.001)
