Neural basis of visuospatial attention investigated by modulation of brain activity with transcranial magnetic stimulation

• Applicant: Dr. Paul Taylor
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 257610869

The neural basis of selective attention is one of the most dominant issues in cognitive neuroscience. Although a network of brain areas have been implicated in filtering out unimportant information from the environment to focus on what is most important, it is not clear how the nodes in this network differ from one another i.e. which brain regions are critical for implementing which precise psychological functions. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a method of neural stimulation with which we can interfere with brain function while participants perform attentional tasks, to test the causal contribution of the stimulated region. The experiments in this proposal use TMS to stimulate the neural areas within the cortical network thought to support covert visuospatial attention. In addition to recording behaviour, these experiments combine TMS with brain-wave recording (TMS-EEG) to measure when and how different parts of the cortical network play their vital role. This research bears the potential to derive how these important psychological functions are represented in the brain, and has general validity in understanding how our brains control what we perceive.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Hermann J. Müller