Right temporoparietal junction activation by a salient contextual cue facilitates target discrimination

Neuroimage. 2011 Jan 1;54(1):594-601. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.08.025. Epub 2010 Aug 20.

Abstract

The right temporoparietal junction (R TPJ) is involved in stimulus-driven attentional control in response to the appearance of an unexpected target or a distractor that shares features with a task-relevant target. An unresolved question is whether these responses in R TPJ are due simply to the presence of a stimulus that is a potential target, or instead responds to any task-relevant information. Here, we addressed this issue by testing the sensitivity of R TPJ to a perceptually salient, non-target stimulus - a contextual cue. Although known to be a non-target, the contextual cue carried probabilistic information regarding the presence of a target in the opposite visual field. The contextual cue was therefore always of potential behavioral relevance, but only sometimes paired with a target. The appearance of the contextual cue alone increased activation in R TPJ, but more so when it appeared with a target. There was also greater connectivity between R TPJ and a network of attentional control and decision areas when the contextual cue was present. These results demonstrate that R TPJ is involved in the stimulus-driven representation of task-relevant information that can be used to engage an appropriate behavioral response.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Attention / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping / methods*
  • Cues*
  • Discrimination, Psychological / physiology*
  • Female
  • Fixation, Ocular
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology*
  • Patient Selection
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology
  • Perception / physiology
  • Psychophysiology / methods
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology*