title: Different effects of voluntary and involuntary attention on EEG activity in the gamma band.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that EEG activity in the gamma range can be modulated by attention. Here, we compared this activity for voluntary and involuntary spatial attention in a spatial-cueing paradigm with faces as targets. The stimuli and trial timing were kept constant across attention conditions with only the predictive value of the cue changing. Gamma-band response was linked to voluntary shifts of attention, but not to the involuntary capture of attention. The presence of increased gamma responses for the voluntary allocation of attention, and its absence in cases of involuntary capture suggests that the neural mechanisms governing these two types of attention are different. Moreover, these data allow a description of the temporal dynamics contributing to the dissociation between voluntary and involuntary attention. The distribution of this correlate of voluntary attention is consistent with a top-down process involving contralateral anterior and posterior regions.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ayelet@berkeley.edu
authors.forename: Ayelet N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Landau
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esterman
authors.forename: Lynn C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bentin
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Prinzmetal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors