Investigation of inter-regional connectivity during attentional control using magnetoencephalography

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25590211
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: National Institute for Physiological Sciences (2014); Waseda University (2013)
• Principal Investigator: KIDA Tetsuo 生理学研究所, 統合生理研究系, 特任准教授 (80419861)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 注意 / 脳領域間結合 / 多感覚 / 視覚

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate changes in inter-regional connectivity underlying attentional control. We analyzed the MEG signal in the cue-target interval in different attention tasks to examine neuronal oscillation and inter-regional connectivity during attentional control. Time-frequency analysis showed that in the cue-target interval, beta activity was desynchronized in the hemisphere contralateral to the attended side. Sensory-evoked responses were increased by spatial attention, irrespective of sensory modalities attended. Also, inter-regional connectivity between prefrontal and parietal regions was increased during attentional control compared with the baseline period. These findings support the hypothesis that early sensory processing in modality-specific cortices is regulated, irrespective of the sensory modality, by attentional control signals from the lateral prefrontal cortex in the human brain.

Free Research Field

実験心理学