title: Frontoparietal Structural Connectivity Mediates the Top-Down Control of Neuronal Synchronization Associated with Selective Attention.
abstract: Neuronal synchronization reflected by oscillatory brain activity has been strongly implicated in the mechanisms supporting selective gating. We here aimed at identifying the anatomical pathways in humans supporting the top-down control of neuronal synchronization. We first collected diffusion imaging data using magnetic resonance imaging to identify the medial branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), a white-matter tract connecting frontal control areas to parietal regions. We then quantified the modulations in oscillatory activity using magnetoencephalography in the same subjects performing a spatial attention task. We found that subjects with a stronger SLF volume in the right compared to the left hemisphere (or vice versa) also were the subjects who had a better ability to modulate right compared to left hemisphere alpha and gamma band synchronization, with the latter also predicting biases in reaction time. Our findings implicate the medial branch of the SLF in mediating top-down control of neuronal synchronization in sensory regions that support selective attention.
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tom Rhys
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Institute of Psychology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Til Ole
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001288:Attention; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D003463:Cues; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D065855:Spatial Processing; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult