title: A critical role of temporoparietal junction in the integration of top-down and bottom-up attentional control.
abstract: Information processing can be biased toward behaviorally relevant and salient stimuli by top-down (goal-directed) and bottom-up (stimulus-driven) attentional control processes respectively. However, the neural basis underlying the integration of these processes is not well understood. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) in humans to examine the brain mechanisms underlying the interaction between these two processes. We manipulated the cognitive load involved in top-down processing and stimulus surprise involved in bottom-up processing in a factorial design by combining a majority function task and an oddball paradigm. We found that high cognitive load and high surprise level were associated with prolonged reaction time compared to low cognitive load and low surprise level, with a synergistic interaction effect, which was accompanied by a greater deactivation of bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ). In addition, the TPJ displayed negative functional connectivity with right middle occipital gyrus, which is involved in bottom-up processing (modulated by the interaction effect), and the right frontal eye field (FEF), which is involved in top-down control. The enhanced negative functional connectivity between the TPJ and right FEF was accompanied by a larger behavioral interaction effect across subjects. Application of cathodal tDCS over the right TPJ eliminated the interaction effect. These results suggest that the TPJ plays a critical role in processing bottom-up information for top-down control of attention.
authors: Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors: Qiong
authors: Q
authors: Wu
authors: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan.
authors: Chi-Fu
authors: CF
authors: Chang
authors: Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors: Sisi
authors: S
authors: Xi
authors: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan.
authors: I-Wen
authors: IW
authors: Huang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Zuxiang
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Jhongli, Taiwan.
authors: Chi-Hung
authors: CH
authors: Juan
authors: Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors: Yanhong
authors: Y
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Psychology, Queens College, The City University of New York, Queens, New York.|Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.|Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.|Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Fan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attentional control; fMRI; interaction; tDCS; temporoparietal junction