Skip Navigation


Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on February 27, 2008
Cerebral Cortex 2008 18(11):2604-2613; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn021
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
18/11/2604    most recent
bhn021v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mohanty, A.
Right arrow Articles by Mesulam, M. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mohanty, A.
Right arrow Articles by Mesulam, M. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The Spatial Attention Network Interacts with Limbic and Monoaminergic Systems to Modulate Motivation-Induced Attention Shifts

Aprajita Mohanty1, Darren R. Gitelman1,2, Dana M. Small3 and M. Marsel Mesulam1,2

1 Cognitive Neurology & Alzheimer's Disease Center, 2 Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA, 3 The John B. Pierce Laboratory, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA

Address correspondence to Aprajita Mohanty, PhD, Cognitive Neurology & Alzheimer's Disease Center, 320 East Superior Street, Searle 11-579, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Email: a-mohanty{at}northwestern.edu.

How does the human brain integrate information from multiple domains to guide spatial attention according to motivational needs? To address this question, we measured hemodynamic responses to central cues predicting locations of peripheral attentional targets (food or tool images) in a novel covert spatial attention paradigm. The motivational relevance of food-related attentional targets was experimentally manipulated via hunger and satiety. Amygdala, posterior cingulate, locus coeruleus, and substantia nigra showed selective sensitivity to food-related cues when hungry but not when satiated, an effect that did not generalize to tools. Posterior parietal cortex (PPC), including intraparietal sulcus, posterior cingulate, and the orbitofrontal cortex displayed correlations with the speed of attentional shifts that were sensitive not just to motivational state but also to the motivational value of the target. Stronger functional coupling between PPC and posterior cingulate occurred during attentional biasing toward motivationally relevant food targets. These results reveal conjoint limbic and monoaminergic encoding of motivational salience in spatial attention. They emphasize the interactive role of posterior parietal and cingulate cortices in integrating motivational information with spatial attention, a process that is critical for selective allocation of attentional resources in an environment where target position and relevance can change rapidly.

Key Words: amygdala • fMRI • inferior parietal sulcus • posterior cingulate • posterior parietal cortex


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ScienceHome page
M. J. Minzenberg, A. J. Watrous, J. H. Yoon, S. Ursu, and C. S. Carter
Modafinil Shifts Human Locus Coeruleus to Low-Tonic, High-Phasic Activity During Functional MRI
Science, December 12, 2008; 322(5908): 1700 - 1702.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.