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Poster C35 in Poster Session C - Friday, August 9, 2024, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm, Johnson Ice Rink
Dynamic recovery of the size of the attentional field in visual cortex
Leah Bakst1 (), Ilona Bloem2, Joseph T. McGuire1, Sam Ling1; 1Boston University, 2Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging
It has long been known that spatial attention can improve behavioral performance in attended locations at the expense of performance at unattended locations, leading to a conceptualization of spatial attention as akin to a ‘spotlight.’ While the neural correlates of the location of this attentional spotlight have been comparatively well studied, less is known about its size: whether and how the spotlight can be broadened or narrowed in response to attentional demands. Here, we developed a paradigm and model to directly investigate the size of the attentional field using fMRI in humans. As attentional cue width increased, the attentional enhancement of BOLD activity in visual cortex also broadened. This broadening was accompanied by a diminishing amplitude of the attentional enhancement.
Keywords: spatial attention visual cortex fMRI