Department of Neurology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158.
Neuroscape, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158.
J Neurosci. 2023 May 3;43(18):3365-3378. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0220-22.2023. Epub 2023 Mar 28.
Temporal orienting of attention plays an important role in our day-to-day lives and can use timing information from exogenous or endogenous sources. Yet, it is unclear what neural mechanisms give rise to temporal attention, and it is debated whether both exogenous and endogenous forms of temporal attention share a common neural source. Here, older adult nonmusicians ( = 47, 24 female) were randomized to undergo 8 weeks of either rhythm training, which places demands on exogenous temporal attention, or word search training as a control. The goal was to assess (1) the neural basis of exogenous temporal attention and (2) whether training-induced improvements in exogenous temporal attention can transfer to enhanced endogenous temporal attention abilities, thereby providing support for a common neural mechanism of temporal attention. Before and after training, exogenous temporal attention was assessed using a rhythmic synchronization paradigm, whereas endogenous temporal attention was evaluated via a temporally cued visual discrimination task. Results showed that rhythm training improved performance on the exogenous temporal attention task, which was associated with increased intertrial coherence within the δ (1-4 Hz) band as assessed by EEG recordings. Source localization revealed increased δ-band intertrial coherence arose from a sensorimotor network, including premotor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, postcentral gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobule. Despite these improvements in exogenous temporal attention, such benefits were not transferred to endogenous attentional ability. These results support the notion that exogenous and endogenous temporal attention uses independent neural sources, with exogenous temporal attention relying on the precise timing of δ band oscillations within a sensorimotor network. Allocating attention to specific points in time is known as temporal attention, and may arise from external (exogenous) or internal (endogenous) sources. Despite its importance to our daily lives, it is unclear how the brain gives rise to temporal attention and whether exogenous- or endogenous-based sources for temporal attention rely on shared brain regions. Here, we demonstrate that musical rhythm training improves exogenous temporal attention, which was associated with more consistent timing of neural activity in sensory and motor processing brain regions. However, these benefits did not extend to endogenous temporal attention, indicating that temporal attention relies on different brain regions depending on the source of timing information.
注意的时间定向在我们的日常生活中起着重要作用，可以利用来自外源性或内源性来源的时间信息。然而，目前尚不清楚是什么神经机制引起了时间注意，也有争议的是，外源性和内源性的时间注意是否具有共同的神经来源。在这里，老年非音乐家（=47，24 名女性）被随机分配接受 8 周的节奏训练或单词搜索训练，作为对照。目的是评估（1）外源性时间注意的神经基础，（2）外源性时间注意的训练诱导的改善是否能转移到增强的内源性时间注意能力，从而为时间注意的共同神经机制提供支持。在训练前后，使用节奏同步范式评估外源性时间注意，而通过时间提示的视觉辨别任务评估内源性时间注意。结果表明，节奏训练提高了外源性时间注意任务的表现，这与 EEG 记录评估的 δ（1-4 Hz）频段内的试验间相干性增加有关。源定位显示，δ 波段试验间相干性的增加来自于感觉运动网络，包括运动前皮质、前扣带皮质、中央后回和下顶叶。尽管外源性时间注意有了这些改善，但这些益处并没有转移到内源性注意力能力上。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即外源性和内源性时间注意使用独立的神经源，外源性时间注意依赖于感觉运动网络中 δ 带振荡的精确定时。将注意力分配到特定的时间点被称为时间注意，它可能来自外部（外源性）或内部（内源性）来源。尽管它对我们的日常生活很重要，但目前尚不清楚大脑是如何产生时间注意的，以及外源性或内源性时间注意的来源是否依赖于共享的大脑区域。在这里，我们证明音乐节奏训练可以提高外源性时间注意，这与感觉和运动处理大脑区域的神经活动更一致的定时有关。然而，这些好处并没有延伸到内源性时间注意，这表明时间注意依赖于不同的大脑区域，这取决于定时信息的来源。
