The proposed research is aimed at analyzing mechanisms of human selective attention on both physiological and psychological levels. The broad goals are to identify the neural structures and cortical areas in which stimulus selection takes place in both visual and auditory modalities and to determine the level(s) of perceptual processing at which attention operates. The principal approach is to record event-related brain potentials from multiple scalp sites and utilize source localization techniques including voltage topographic mapping, current source density analyses, and inverse dipole modelling to characterize the underlying neural generators. Proposed experiments in the auditory modality will investigate the neural bases of early channel-selective attention indexed by mid-latency (P20-50) and longer latency (mismatch negativity and Nl) components. Visual experiments will attempt to localize the cortical areas that mediate selective attention to spatial versus non-spatial aspects of visual stimuli. In both modalities, the significance of attention-related ERP changes for perceptual processing will be examined by obtaining """"""""attention operating characteristic"""""""" curves for ERP components and measures of detection performance. This research relates to important mental health problems, since disturbances of selective attention are characteristic of many clinical disorders including schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder and learning disability. The ERP studies proposed here should lead to an improved understanding of the basic mechanisms of both normal disordered attention.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37MH025594-18
Application #
3486397
Study Section
Cognition, Emotion, and Personality Research Review Committee (CEP)
Project Start
1976-06-01
Project End
1995-06-30
Budget Start
1991-07-01
Budget End
1992-06-30
Support Year
18
Fiscal Year
1991
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Diego
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
077758407
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92093
Martinez, A; Teder-Salejarvi, W; Vazquez, M et al. (2006) Objects are highlighted by spatial attention. J Cogn Neurosci 18:298-310
Teder-Salejarvi, Wolfgang A; Pierce, Karen L; Courchesne, Eric et al. (2005) Auditory spatial localization and attention deficits in autistic adults. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 23:221-34
Di Russo, Francesco; Pitzalis, Sabrina; Spitoni, Grazia et al. (2005) Identification of the neural sources of the pattern-reversal VEP. Neuroimage 24:874-86
Teder-Salejarvi, W A; Di Russo, F; McDonald, J J et al. (2005) Effects of spatial congruity on audio-visual multimodal integration. J Cogn Neurosci 17:1396-409
Khoe, W; Mitchell, J F; Reynolds, J H et al. (2005) Exogenous attentional selection of transparent superimposed surfaces modulates early event-related potentials. Vision Res 45:3004-14
McDonald, John J; Teder-Salejarvi, Wolfgang A; Di Russo, Francesco et al. (2005) Neural basis of auditory-induced shifts in visual time-order perception. Nat Neurosci 8:1197-202
McDonald, John J; Teder-Salejarvi, Wolfgang A; Di Russo, Francesco et al. (2003) Neural substrates of perceptual enhancement by cross-modal spatial attention. J Cogn Neurosci 15:10-9
Di Russo, Francesco; Martinez, Antigona; Hillyard, Steven A (2003) Source analysis of event-related cortical activity during visuo-spatial attention. Cereb Cortex 13:486-99
Schoenfeld, M A; Tempelmann, C; Martinez, A et al. (2003) Dynamics of feature binding during object-selective attention. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100:11806-11
Teder-Salejarvi, W A; McDonald, J J; Di Russo, F et al. (2002) An analysis of audio-visual crossmodal integration by means of event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 14:106-14

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