Shomstein Sarah, Yantis Steven
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
J Neurosci. 2006 Jan 11;26(2):435-9. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4408-05.2006.
The human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is widely believed to subserve visually guided spatial behavior, including the control of visual attention, eye movements, and reaching. To explore the generality of this function, we measured human brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging during spatial and nonspatial shifts of auditory attention. Both spatial and nonspatial shifts of auditory attention evoked transient activity in the medial superior parietal cortex. These results reveal that the PPC is not exclusively devoted to visuospatial behavior; similar regions within a dorsomedial subcompartment provide a domain-independent reconfiguration signal for the control of spatial and nonspatial attention in both visual and nonvisual modalities.
人们普遍认为，人类后顶叶皮层（PPC）有助于视觉引导的空间行为，包括视觉注意力控制、眼球运动和伸手动作。为了探究该功能的普遍性，我们在听觉注意力的空间和非空间转移过程中，使用功能磁共振成像测量了人类大脑活动。听觉注意力的空间和非空间转移均在内侧顶上叶皮层诱发了短暂活动。这些结果表明，PPC并不专门负责视觉空间行为；背内侧子区域内的类似区域为视觉和非视觉模式下空间和非空间注意力的控制提供了一个与领域无关的重新配置信号。
