α-Band Electroencephalographic Activity over Occipital Cortex Indexes Visuospatial Attention Bias and Predicts Visual Target Detection

Covertly directing visual attention toward a spatial location in the absence of visual stimulation enhances future visual processing at the attended position. The neuronal correlates of these attention shifts involve modulation of neuronal "baseline" activity in early visual areas, presumably through top-down control from higher-order attentional systems. We used electroencephalography to study the largely unknown relationship between these neuronal modulations and behavioral outcome in an attention orienting paradigm. Covert visuospatial attention shifts to either a left or right peripheral position in the absence of visual stimulation resulted in differential modulations of oscillatory alpha-band (8-14 Hz)…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

  Awards: 3200B0, 105867
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: K24 RR018875, RO1-EY12091