Auditory Attention Activates Peripheral Visual Cortex

Anthony D. Cate; Timothy J. Herron; E. William Yund; G. Christopher Stecker; Teemu Rinne; Xiaojian Kang; Christopher I. Petkov; Elizabeth A. Disbrow; David L. Woods

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004645

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Auditory Attention Activates Peripheral Visual Cortex

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Auditory Attention Activates Peripheral Visual Cortex

Anthony D. Cate, Timothy J. Herron, E. William Yund, G. Christopher Stecker, Teemu Rinne, Xiaojian Kang, Christopher I. Petkov, Elizabeth A. Disbrow and David L. Woods

PloS one, Vol.4(2), pp.e4645-e4645

02/27/2009

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004645

PMCID: PMC2644787

PMID: 19247451

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Abstract

Background: Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed that putatively unimodal regions of visual cortex can be activated during auditory tasks in sighted as well as in blind subjects. However, the task determinants and functional significance of auditory occipital activations (AOAs) remains unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined AOAs in an intermodal selective attention task to distinguish whether they were stimulus-bound or recruited by higher-level cognitive operations associated with auditory attention. Cortical surface mapping showed that auditory occipital activations were localized to retinotopic visual cortex subserving the far peripheral visual field. AOAs depended strictly on the sustained engagement of auditory attention and were enhanced in more difficult listening conditions. In contrast, unattended sounds produced no AOAs regardless of their intensity, spatial location, or frequency. Conclusions/Significance: Auditory attention, but not passive exposure to sounds, routinely activated peripheral regions of visual cortex when subjects attended to sound sources outside the visual field. Functional connections between auditory cortex and visual cortex subserving the peripheral visual field appear to underlie the generation of AOAs, which may reflect the priming of visual regions to process soon-to-appear objects associated with unseen sound sources.

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Details

Title: Subtitle: Auditory Attention Activates Peripheral Visual Cortex
Creators: Anthony D. Cate - VA Northern California Health Care System
Timothy J. Herron - VA Northern California Health Care System
E. William Yund - VA Northern California Health Care System
G. Christopher Stecker - University of Washington
Teemu Rinne - University of Helsinki
Xiaojian Kang - University of California, Davis
Christopher I. Petkov - Newcastle University
Elizabeth A. Disbrow - University of California, Davis
David L. Woods - CognIT (Norway)
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: PloS one, Vol.4(2), pp.e4645-e4645
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004645
PMID: 19247451
PMCID: PMC2644787
NLM abbreviation: PLoS One
ISSN: 1932-6203
eISSN: 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library Science
Number of pages: 12
Grant note: VA Research Service; US Department of Veterans Affairs DCD5814 / DLW
Language: English
Date published: 02/27/2009
Academic Unit: Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Neurosurgery; Otolaryngology
Record Identifier: 9984360005302771

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