The functional anatomy of attention to visual motion. A functional MRI study
Abstract
Attention can enhance or modulate neural responses to stimuli at early and late stages of sensory processing. We were interested in the modulatory effect of attention to visual motion on cortical responses as measured by functional MRI. Subjects were scanned during repeated presentations of identical stimuli (visual motion) while only the attentional component of the task was varied. Enhanced haemodynamic responses during attentive conditions defined an occipitoparietofrontal system, including sensory and association areas, as well as the medial thalamus and superior colliculus. Attentional modulation was not restricted to extrastriate areas (including V3a and the V5 complex) but was also evident, to a lesser degree, in early visual areas close to the calcarine fissure (V1/V2 border). Attention-related enhancement of cortical responsiveness is discussed in terms of data that implicate modulatory short-term changes in synaptic efficacy and reciprocal connections between striate, extrastriate, parietal and frontal areas. Given the similarity of our attentional network to that controlling eye movements, the results of this study are in accord with theories linking oculomotor control and attention.
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The thalamus is a relay center in subserving sensory and motor mechanisms, awareness, attention, memory, and language.
“The thalamus is a relay center in subserving both sensory and motor mechanisms, and awareness (Smythies, 1997), attention (Büchel et al., 1998) and other neurocognitive processes such as memory and language (Engelborghs et al., 1998, Johnson and Ojemann, 2000).”
From The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (2018) · cites this paper as Büchel et al., 1998
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References 65 · Cited by 303
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- Authors
- Buchel, C.
- Venue
- Brain
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1998-07-01
- Volume
- 121
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1281-1294
- ISSN
- 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2156
- OpenAlex
- W2022416330
- Cited by
- 303
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 11.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- visual attention, visual motion, attentional modulation, hemodynamic response, extrastriate cortex, V3A, primary visual cortex, superior colliculus, medial thalamus, oculomotor control, synaptic efficacy, eye movements
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Motion Perception, Occipital Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Photic Stimulation, Psychophysics, Visual Perception
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