title: Temporal orienting precedes intersensory attention and has opposing effects on early evoked brain activity.
abstract: Intersensory attention (IA) describes the process of directing attention to a specific modality. Temporal orienting (TO) characterizes directing attention to a specific moment in time. Previously, studies indicated that these two processes could have opposite effects on early evoked brain activity. The exact time-course and processing stages of both processes are still unknown. In this human electroencephalography study, we investigated the effects of IA and TO on visuo-tactile stimulus processing within one paradigm. IA was manipulated by presenting auditory cues to indicate whether participants should detect visual or tactile targets in visuo-tactile stimuli. TO was manipulated by presenting stimuli block-wise at fixed or variable inter-stimulus intervals. We observed that TO affects evoked activity to visuo-tactile stimuli prior to IA. Moreover, we found that TO reduces the amplitude of early evoked brain activity, whereas IA enhances it. Using beamformer source-localization, we observed that IA increases neural responses in sensory areas of the attended modality whereas TO reduces brain activity in widespread cortical areas. Based on these findings we derive an updated working model for the effects of temporal and intersensory attention on early evoked brain activity.
authors.affiliation: Multisensory Integration Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Grosse Hambuger Strasse 5-11, 10115 Berlin.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.affiliation: Multisensory Integration Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Grosse Hambuger Strasse 5-11, 10115 Berlin; Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Ear Institute, University College London, London WC1X 8EE.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pomper
authors.affiliation: Multisensory Integration Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Grosse Hambuger Strasse 5-11, 10115 Berlin.
authors.forename: Nele
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Feuerbach
authors.affiliation: Multisensory Integration Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Grosse Hambuger Strasse 5-11, 10115 Berlin.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Senkowski
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention; EEG; ERP; Multisensory; Orienting; Prediction