Iaria Giuseppe, Fox Christopher J, Chen Jen-Kai, Petrides Michael, Barton Jason J S
Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, VGH Eye Care Center, Section D, 2550 Willow Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 3N9.
Eur J Neurosci. 2008 Feb;27(4):1017-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2008.06060.x. Epub 2008 Feb 13.
Navigation is a complex cognitive ability requiring the processing and integration of several different types of information extracted from the environment. While navigating, however, an unexpected event may suddenly occur, which individuals are required to detect promptly in order to apply an appropriate behavioural response. The alerting mechanism that is integral to the detection of unexpected events is referred to as the bottom-up attentional system. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the neural basis of bottom-up detection of unexpected events while individuals moved within a virtual environment. We identified activation within a right fronto-temporo-parietal network in response to unexpected events while navigating in this virtual environment. Furthermore, when an unexpected event requires an adjusted behavioural response, a region of the right ventrolateral pre-frontal cortex (areas 45 and 47/12) is selectively activated. Our data replicate earlier findings on the neural mechanisms underlying visual attention and extend these findings to the more complex real-life ability of spatial navigation, thereby suggesting that these neural mechanisms subserve the bottom-up attentional systems that are crucial for effective locomotion in real surroundings.
导航是一种复杂的认知能力，需要对从环境中提取的几种不同类型的信息进行处理和整合。然而，在导航过程中，可能会突然发生意外事件，个体需要迅速察觉这些事件，以便做出适当的行为反应。对意外事件检测不可或缺的警觉机制被称为自下而上的注意力系统。我们使用事件相关功能磁共振成像技术，研究了个体在虚拟环境中移动时，自下而上检测意外事件的神经基础。我们发现在这个虚拟环境中导航时，右侧额颞顶网络会因意外事件而激活。此外，当意外事件需要调整行为反应时，右侧腹外侧前额叶皮质（45区和47/12区）会被选择性激活。我们的数据重复了早期关于视觉注意力神经机制的研究结果，并将这些结果扩展到空间导航这一更为复杂的现实生活能力上，从而表明这些神经机制支持着对在真实环境中有效移动至关重要的自下而上的注意力系统。
