Final Report Summary - ATTENTION&CONSCIOUS (Attention and consciousness in the brain)
Our main results can be summarised as follows:
1) Endogenous and exogenous attention are implemented in differentiated but partially overleaping brain circuits, including key nodes of dorsal and ventral parietal regions (Bourgeois, Chica, Migliaccio, Thiebaut de Schotten, & Bartolomeo, under review; Bourgeois, Chica, Valero-Cabre, & Bartolomeo, in preparation; Chica, Bartolomeo, & Valero-Cabr?, 2011).
2) Some forms of attention such as exogenous spatial attention (Chica, Botta, Lupi??ez, & Bartolomeo, under review; Chica, Lasaponara, et al., 2011; Chica, Lasaponara, Lupi??ez, Doricchi, & Bartolomeo, 2010) and phasic alertness (Kusnir, Chica, Mitsumasu, & Bartolomeo, 2011) interact with subsequent conscious perception, and are important antecedents of our conscious experience. Other forms of attention, such as endogenous spatial attention, can instead be dissociated from conscious reports (Chica, Botta, et al., under review; Wyart & Tallon-Baudry, 2008). Interactions within fronto-parietal attentional networks underlie the interplay between exogenous attention and conscious perception (Chica, Paz-Alonso, Valero-Cabr?, & Bartolomeo, under review), suggesting that these fronto-parietal interactions are not only relevant for conscious perception as proposed by recent models (Dehaene, Changeux, Naccache, Sackur, & Sergent, 2006; Dehaene & Naccache, 2001; Lamme, 2006); they also play a crucial role during attentional orienting facilitating access to consciousness for attended targets.
3) TMS over key nodes of this attentional networks (in particular the left FEF) demonstrated their causal role on conscious perception, biasing attentional orienting and subsequent conscious reports (Chica, Valero-Cabr?, Paz-Alonso, & Bartolomeo, in preparation). Briefs excitatory TMS pulses have been successful in improving conscious perception in healthy participants, especially when attention is simultaneously engaged by using visual attentional cues (Chanes, Chica, Bartolomeo, & Valero-Cabre, under review).
Three main conclusions can be extracted from our project:
1) Endogenous and exogenous attention consist of two independent attentional systems implemented in partially different brain regions;
2) Exogenous spatial attention influences conscious perception, and these interactions are tightly associated to the activity of dorsal and ventral fronto-parietal networks traditionally involved in attentional orienting;
3) Non-invasive neuro-stimulation techniques constitute a useful tool to investigate the causal role of attentional nodes in attention an