Causality analysis defines neural streams of orienting and holding of attention.

Previous studies with effective connectivity analysis have revealed neural streams of orienting of attention. However, neural streams involved in holding of attention on the fovea remain unclear. To identify them, we performed event-related functional MRI with a cueing paradigm and Granger causality analysis. Typical regions along the dorsal attention network (DAN) showed greater activation during orienting than during holding of attention. However, causality analysis indicated that neural streams appeared along the DAN in a top-down manner during orienting, whereas streams from widely distributed regions to the left prefrontal cortex appeared and these were dissociable from the DAN during holding of attention. Our results suggest that dissociable neural streams contribute to orienting and holding of attention, respectively.