Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Eur J Neurosci. 2021 May;53(10):3394-3403. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15164. Epub 2021 Mar 17.
Visual selective attention allows us to filter relevant inputs from irrelevant inputs during visual processing. In contrast to rich research exploring how the brain facilitates task-relevant inputs, less is known about how the brain suppresses irrelevant inputs. In this study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate the causal role of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a crucial brain area for attentional control, in distractor suppression. Specifically, 10-Hz repetitive TMS (rTMS) was applied to the right DLPFC and Vertex at the stimuli onset (stimuli-onset TMS) or 500 ms prior to the stimuli onset (prestimuli TMS). In a variant of the Posner cueing task, participants were instructed to identify the shape of a white target while ignoring a white or colored distractor whose location was either cued in advance or uncued. As anticipated, either the location cue or the colored distractor led to faster responses. Notably, the location cueing effect was eliminated by stimuli-onset TMS to the right DLPFC, but not by prestimuli TMS. Further analyses showed that stimuli-onset TMS quickened responses to uncued trials, and this TMS effect was derived from the inhibition at the distractor in both visual fields. In addition, TMS over the right DLPFC had no specific effect on the colored distractor compared to the white one. Considered collectively, these findings indicate that the DLPFC plays a crucial role in visuospatial distractor suppression and acts upon stimuli presentation. Besides, it seems the DLPFC contributes more to location-based distractor suppression than to color-based one.
视觉选择性注意使我们能够在视觉处理过程中从无关输入中过滤相关输入。与丰富的研究探索大脑如何促进与任务相关的输入相比，人们对大脑如何抑制无关输入知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）来研究右背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的因果作用，该大脑区域对于注意力控制至关重要，在抑制分心物方面的作用。具体来说，在刺激开始时（刺激开始 TMS）或在刺激开始前 500 毫秒（刺激前 TMS）将 10-Hz 重复 TMS（rTMS）施加到右 DLPFC 和顶点。在 Posner 线索任务的变体中，参与者被指示在忽略白色或彩色分心物的同时识别白色目标的形状，其位置要么预先提示，要么不提示。正如预期的那样，位置提示或彩色分心物都会导致更快的反应。值得注意的是，右侧 DLPFC 的刺激开始 TMS 消除了位置提示效应，但刺激前 TMS 没有。进一步的分析表明，刺激开始 TMS 加速了未提示试验的反应，并且这种 TMS 效应源自两个视野中分心物的抑制。此外，与白色分心物相比，TMS 对右 DLPFC 对彩色分心物没有特定影响。总的来说，这些发现表明 DLPFC 在视觉空间分心物抑制中起着至关重要的作用，并在刺激呈现时起作用。此外，似乎 DLPFC 对基于位置的分心物抑制的贡献比对基于颜色的分心物抑制的贡献更大。
