1 Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, Washington University, , 2 Department of Radiology, Washington University, , 3 Alzheimers Disease Research Center, Washington University and , 4 Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University, St Louis, MO 63110, USA
Address correspondence to Gordon Shulman, Department of Neurology, Box 8111, 660 S. Euclid, St Louis, MO 63110, USA. Email: gordon{at}npg.wustl.edu.
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Abstract |
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Introduction |
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Selective processing of motion may involve modulations of parietal cortex. The parietal lobe receives extensive projections from motion-selective regions such as MT and MST, and contains cells that are directionally tuned and sensitive to moving patterns such as optic flow (Maunsell and Van Essen, 1983; Ungerleider and Desimone, 1986
; Colby et al., 1993
; Siegel and Read, 1997
). Neuroimaging studies have reported modulations in parietal cortex during speed judgments but not judgments of shape or hue (Corbetta et al., 1991
; Beauchamp et al., 1997
).
While selective processing of particular dimensions involves modulations of specialized pathways (e.g. the motion pathway), task specification involves the specification of inputs (e.g. color or motion), outputs (e.g. left and right hand, or hand and eye movements), and the mapping between them. There is some evidence for this process within the parietal lobe (Le et al., 1998; Kimberg et al., 2000
; Sohn et al., 2000
; Rushworth et al., 2001
). However, it is unknown if regions coding this information generalize over the type of input and output rather than being specialized for particular types. Generalization would suggest that these regions involve relatively abstract representations that can code a wide range of tasks.
Finally, it is important to distinguish preparatory signals for selective processing and task specification from the signals these processes produce during stimulus presentation. One way to accomplish this is to provide advance information that indicates the appropriate set prior to stimulus onset. Recent event-related fMRI studies have successfully used this technique to separate signals involved in task preparation and execution [for a review, see Corbetta and Shulman (Corbetta and Shulman, 2002)].
In the present study, we test the hypothesis that parietal cortex carries signals involved in task specification and selective processing of motion. Signals related to task specification were isolated by comparing scans in which the task-relevant dimension changed over trials or was constant. Signals related to motion selectivity were isolated by comparing trials in which motion or color was cued. The isolation of both task-specification and motion-selective signals within the same study allowed us to characterize their functional and anatomical relationship. Finally, event-related techniques were used to separate preparatory signals for these processes from the signals these processes produce during stimulus presentation.
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Materials and Methods |
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Nineteen right-handed subjects gave informed consent in accordance with guidelines set by the Human Studies Committee of Washington University. Fifty colored moving dots were randomly positioned on a black background within a 3.25° circular aperture. Speed of motion was 4.2°/s. A central fixation cross was present throughout the trial and subjects were instructed to maintain fixation.
Procedure
A visual word cue indicated the feature that subjects were required to process during the subsequent test period (Fig. 1). One of four words (red, green, left or right) was presented for 480 ms at the onset of the cue period, which lasted for 4.32 s. On 25% of the trials (cue trials), the trial ended with the completion of the cue period. The end of a trial was signaled by a brief dimming of the fixation point. For the other 75% of the trials (cue + test trials), following the cue period, a moving colored random dot pattern was presented for 480 ms. Subjects pressed a key with their right hand as quickly as possible if the cued feature in the test pattern matched a standard feature that subjects had previously been taught (see below). For example, if the cue word was red, subjects pressed the right key if the red hue of the moving dots matched a standard red hue and pressed the left key if the red hue was non-standard (i.e. following a red cue, red dots were always presented but they could be of variable red hue). For a particular hue (e.g. red), only one non-standard hue was presented, and this hue was determined for each subject in a pre-session (see below) to yield
80% correct responses. The four cue types (red, green, left, right) occurred with equal frequency. On half the trials, the task-relevant dimension of the test stimulus involved a standard feature while on the other half the task-relevant dimension involved a non-standard feature. A similar constraint held for the feature of the irrelevant-task dimension. The interval between each trial was randomly varied from 3.82 to 8.14 s.
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Imaging Methods
MRI scans were collected on a Siemens 1.5 T Vision system, using an asymmetric spin-echo EPI sequence sensitive to BOLD contrast (T2*) (TR = 2360 ms, T2* evolution time = 50 ms, flip angle = 90°). During each scanning run, 128 2.36 s MR frames were acquired, where each frame contains an image of the brain consisting of 16 contiguous 8 mm axial slices (3.75 x 3.75 mm in-plane). Structural images were collected with a sagittal MP-RAGE T1-weighted sequence (TR = 9.7 ms, echo time TE = 4 ms, flip angle = 12°, inversion 300 ms) and a T2-weighted spin-echo sequence (TR = 3800 ms, TE = 90 ms, flip angle = 90°).
Data Analysis
Functional data were realigned within and across scanning runs to correct for head movement, using six-parameter rigid-body realignment. A whole-brain normalization was applied to each scanning run to correct for changes in signal intensity between runs. Differences in the time of acquisition of each slice within a frame were compensated by sinc interpolation. For each subject, an atlas transformation (Talairach and Tournoux, 1988) was computed based on an average of the first frame of each functional run and the T2 and MP-RAGE structural images. The BOLD signal in each subject was analyzed with a within-trial linear regression model that estimated separate time-courses during the cue and test periods for each trial type (e.g. red cue, standard test stimulus), without assuming a shape for the hemodynamic response (Shulman et al., 1999
; Ollinger et al., 2001a
,b
). A second between-trial model was also generated that estimated separate time-courses for each trial, rather than for periods within a trial. Both models included terms on each scanning run for an intercept, linear trend, and temporal high-pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 0.009 Hz. For all differences between conditions (e.g. color task versus motion task) that are reported for the cue or test periods from the within-trial model, we verified that a similar difference was observed in the corresponding time-courses generated from the between trial model. For example, if a difference between the color and motion conditions was reported during the test period (within trial model), then a similar difference was observed during later frames of cue + test trials (between trial model). The analysis of the test period included both correct and incorrect trials.
Time-courses from the within-trial linear model were put into atlas space and smoothed by a filter with a full-width-at-half-maximum of 4 mm. Group analyses were conducted using voxel-level ANOVAs. Subjects were treated as a random effect so that all results generalized across the population. Correlations across time-points were corrected by adjusting the degrees of freedom (Ollinger and McAvoy, 2000). Statistical images were corrected for multiple comparisons over the whole brain (P < 0.05), using a magnitude threshold derived from Monte-Carlo simulations that takes into account the number of contiguous activated voxels (Forman et al., 1995
). The coordinates of responses in multiple-comparison corrected maps were identified by an automated algorithm that searched for local maxima and minima (Mintun et al., 1989
).
Voxels that were activated by the motion and color tasks during the cue or test periods were determined by the Main effect of MR frame (for frames 18) in a voxel-level ANOVA. The resulting F-statistic isolated regions that showed a time-course that significantly differed from a flat line. Voxels differentially activated by the motion and color tasks were determined by the interaction of Cue Dimension (motion, color) and MR frame (18). The resulting F-statistic isolated regions that showed a different time-course following color and motion cues. Similarly, voxels differentially activated during blocked and mixed scans were determined by the interaction of Cue Mode (blocked, mixed) and MR frame (18). Results are only presented for positive activations. Deactivations are not considered in this report.
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Results |
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Subjects saw a cue word specifying either a hue (red, green) or motion direction (left, right) and then saw a test display of moving colored dots. Their task was to indicate whether the cued feature in the test display matched a standard feature that had previously been taught. For example, if the cue word was red, subjects pressed one key if the red hue of the moving dots matched the standard red hue, and pressed another key if the red hue was non-standard.
Subjects correctly made the standard/non-standard discrimination during the color and motion tasks on 77.2 and 78.2% of trials, respectively. These percentages were not significantly different and indicate that both discrimination tasks were very difficult, with performance at or near threshold. Under conditions with high error rates, reaction times are difficult to interpret. Both tasks involved reaction times that were quite long relative to most simple two-choice discrimination, emphasizing the difficult nature of the discriminations. Correct reaction time in the motion task (1192 ms) was 79 ms slower than in the color task (1113 ms) [F(1,18) = 6.7, P < 0.05].
Error rates and reaction times for each task were not significantly different on mixed and blocked scans. The absence of a task-switching cost on mixed scans (Allport et al., 1994) probably reflected several factors. The preparation interval was over 4 s, which would reduce switch costs by allowing subjects to prepare for the upcoming stimulus (Meiran, 1996
). The inter-trial interval was relatively long (
48 s), which would dissipate effects from the previous trial (Meiran et al., 2000
). Finally, the limiting factor on performance was discriminability rather than the speed of stimulusresponse translation.
The data from mixed scans were examined to determine if performance depended on whether the cued dimension and feature on a given trial matched those on the previous trial. There was no reliable effect of this variable on accuracy. However, reaction time was faster when both the relevant dimension and feature was repeated (i.e. red was cued on both trial n 1 and trial n) [F(2,24) = 8.55, P < 0.002]. Post hoc analyses indicated that repeating the relevant dimension and feature produced faster reaction times (1100 ms) than repeating only the relevant dimension (i.e. green on trial n 1 and red on trial n; 1160 ms) [F(1,13) = 19.8, P < 0.001], or changing both the relevant feature and dimension (i.e. green on trial n 1, left on trial n; 1172 ms) [F(1,13) = 9.4, P < 0.01]. The latter two conditions did not differ. However, on blocked scans, trials in which the relevant dimension and feature were repeated (1149 ms) were actually slightly, slower (although non-significantly) than trials in which the feature was changed (1136 ms). Therefore, the interpretation and reliability of the reaction time effect on mixed scans is open to question. As noted, reaction time data should be treated cautiously when error rates are high.
Further analyses examined whether the irrelevant stimulus dimension (i.e. if a trial involved a motion cue, then color was irrelevant) affected the subjects judgment of the relevant dimension. On incongruent trials, the feature of the task-relevant dimension called for a different response than the feature of the task-irrelevant dimension. For example, the relevant dimension might involve a standard feature, calling for a right hand response, while the irrelevant dimension might involve a non-standard feature, which would call for a left hand response if it were relevant. On congruent trials, both the relevant and irrelevant dimensions called for the same response. Subjects were more accurate on congruent than incongruent trials [79.4% versus 76.1%; F(1,18) = 16.2, P < 0.001], reflecting an effect of the task-irrelevant dimension, but there were no reliable differences in reaction time. Although the congruency effect was slightly larger on mixed scans than blocked scans (4.5% versus 2.1%), this difference was not significant [F(1,18) = 1.02].
Imaging
Changes in the BOLD signal are first discussed for the cue period, in which verbal motion or color cues were presented, and then for the test period, in which color or motion judgments were made on the same visual stimulus. The terms task preparation and task execution, respectively, are used in the text to describe processes engaged during the cue and test periods. Each section considers three main questions. First, were any voxels differentially activated in the motion and color conditions (e.g. effects of Cue Dimension)? These analyses isolated voxels that were involved in a dimension-specific attentional process. Second, were any voxels differentially activated during mixed scans, in which the task-relevant dimension changed over trials, compared to blocked scans, in which the task-relevant dimension was constant (e.g. effects of Cue Mode)? These analyses isolated voxels that were involved in specifying task information. Finally, what was the relationship between the two variables, as indicated by joint effects of Cue Mode and Cue Dimension?
Cue Period: Effects of Cue Dimension
Figure 2 (top left panel) shows that motion cues yielded greater activity than color cues near the cortical surface of left IPs (intraparietal sulcus), extending medially into SPL (superior parietal lobule) (see Table 1
for coordinates).
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Greater activation on mixed scans than blocked scans was observed near the cortical surface of left IPs (Fig. 2, top middle panel; see Table 2
for coordinates), very similar to the region showing an effect of Cue Dimension. A significantly larger signal on mixed than blocked scans was also observed in the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus/sulcus (dIFg/IFs) (Fig. 2
, top right panel). As indicated by the time-course, this frontal region was only affected by task specification, with no evidence of motion selectivity.
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Cue Period: Relationship Between Effects of Cue Mode and Cue Dimension
The left parietal regions sensitive to Cue Mode and Cue Dimension were spatially overlapping. One hundred and thirty voxels (1040 mm3) were sensitive to Cue Dimension, 45 voxels (360 mm3) were sensitive to Cue Mode, and 7 voxels (56 mm3) were sensitive to both variables. Because of the conservative nature of whole-brain corrected, voxel-level statistics, the actual number of voxels sensitive to both task specification and motion selection was probably greater than indicated by these quantities. While individual voxels in the group statistical map were more sensitive to one or the other variable, these voxels did not show a consistent anatomical segregation (i.e. mediallateral or anteriorposterior) and this was reflected in the similar coordinates for the group foci shown in Tables 1 and 2. Overlap in the spatial distribution of the two variables was also supported by an examination of individual data. Figure 3
shows spatial z-maps in individual subjects for the different cueing conditions: motion versus color cues (collapsed over the mixed-blocked variable), and mixed versus blocked scans (collapsed over the Cue Dimension variable). Subjects showed more activation in the motion and mixed conditions and these activations occurred in very similar spatial locations. Therefore, while it is possible that the two processes were segregated in a mosaic or that the spatial extent of the motion-selective process was broader than that for task specification, the main conclusion is that the two processes occurred within similar regions of left posterior parietal cortex. In contrast, the two processes were clearly segregated outside of parietal cortex. The left frontal focus (Fig. 2
, upper right panel) only showed effects of task specification, with no evidence of motion selectivity. Finally, the higher-order interaction of Cue Dimension by Cue Mode by MR Frame was not significant for any voxel, indicating that the null hypothesis of additivity between the two variables could not be rejected.
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Test Period: Effects of Cue Dimension
A larger signal on motion trials than color trials was observed in precentral regions, parietal regions, including bilateral SPL, bilateral precuneus, right vIPs, right IPs and postcentral sulcus, and occipital regions, including bilateral MT+ and the right transverse occipital sulcus. Activations in SPL, precuneus, vIPs and MT+ are shown in Figure 2 (bottom left panel) at the same slice shown for the cue period, while time-courses are shown for the activations in SPL and MT+.
The motion-selective activation in left SPL was less robust than the activation in right SPL, but overlapped the left parietal motion-selective activation from the cue period (Fig. 2, top left panel). Motion selectivity was observed in 130 left parietal voxels (1040 mm3) during the cue period, 54 voxels (432 mm3) during the test period, and 34 voxels (272 mm3) during both periods. Therefore, some left parietal voxels showed motion-selective signals during both task preparation and execution.
Test Period: Effects of Cue Mode
A significantly larger signal was observed on mixed scans than blocked scans in left IPs (Fig. 2, bottom right panel) and left precentral regions (see Table 2
for coordinates). The IPs region overlapped the IPs region affected by Cue Mode during the preceding cue period. Task specification affected 45 left parietal voxels (360 mm3) during the cue period, 56 voxels (448 mm3) during the test period, and eight voxels (64 mm3) during both periods. Therefore, some left parietal voxels showed task-specification signals during both preparation and execution.
A voxel-based ANOVA was conducted to determine if the BOLD signal in any voxel depended on whether the information cued on the current trial differed from the information cued on the preceding trial. A significant effect was found in the left central sulcus (47, 29, 46). Examination of the time-courses in this region indicated that on trials in which the task-relevant feature/dimension was the same as the previous trial (e.g. red was cued on both trials), the BOLD signal rose slightly faster and decayed slightly more quickly than on trials in which either the task-relevant feature or dimension was different.
Test Period: Relationship Between Effects of Cue Mode and Cue Dimension
There was no spatial overlap during the test period between the left parietal voxels significantly sensitive to Cue Dimension and Cue Mode. However, the time-course shown in Figure 2 (bottom right panel) for the left IPs region sensitive to Cue Mode indicates that some sensitivity to motion selection may have been present in this region, suggesting caution in drawing strong inferences concerning segregation. Moreover, an examination of individual z-maps did not show clear evidence for segregation of the two variables, again suggesting caution. Therefore, the data do not allow strong claims that the spatial distributions of the two variables in left parietal cortex during the test period were different. Rather, a reasonable conclusion is that both processes occurred within similar, but perhaps not identical, regions of left posterior parietal cortex. In contrast, significant effects of motion selectivity were observed in many occipital regions that did not show significant effects of task specification (compare Tables 1 and 2
), indicating greater segregation of the two variables outside of left parietal cortex. Finally, the higher-order interaction of Cue Dimension by Cue Mode by MR Frame was not significant for any region or voxel, indicating that the null hypothesis of additivity between the two variables could not be rejected.
In summary, during the test period, left posterior parietal cortex was significantly affected by task specification and motion selection. However, the two processes were more segregated in other cortical regions. Left posterior parietal voxels were sensitive to task specification or motion selection during both cue and test periods, indicating that overlapping regions were involved in task preparation and execution.
Hemispheric Asymmetries
Effects of motion selectivity and task specification were primarily observed in the left hemisphere during the cue period, in which task-relevant information was verbally cued. In contrast, during the test period, many regions only showed motion selectivity in the right hemisphere and those regions that were bilaterally activated showed larger z-scores in the right hemisphere (see Table 1; although left MT+ appears more activated than right MT+ in Fig. 2
, this simply reflects the fact that the slice shown was closer to the left MT+ focus. The peak z-score was greater for right than left MT+).
A quantitative analysis of the asymmetry of motion-selectivity during the cue period in left parietal cortex was conducted. Since right hemisphere regions were poorly activated during the cue period (even in images simply reflecting the main effect of MR frame), right hemisphere ROIs could not be defined from the cue period images. Moreover, using the homologous coordinate from the activated left hemisphere to define the right hemisphere focus would bias the results. Therefore, left and right hemisphere regions were defined from the functional data from the test period. Specifically, ROIs for left and right parietal cortex were defined by centering a 10 mm diameter sphere on the parietal voxel in the left (coordinate = 15, 67, 52) and right (coordinate = 13, 65, 52) hemisphere that showed the peak z-score for the interaction of Cue Dimension and MR Frame. A significant interaction of Hemisphere by Cue Dimension by MR Frame was observed [F(7,126) = 2.31, P < 0.05], confirming the presence of significant hemispheric asymmetries in motion selectivity during the cue period.
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Discussion |
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Selective Processing of Motion
One type of preparatory modulation involved selective processing of motion. Strong motion selectivity during the cue period was observed in a left posterior parietal region very similar to that activated in our previous study of preparatory processes related to motion detection (Shulman et al., 1999). Since the control task in the current study involved an active discrimination (color matching) rather than passive viewing (the control in the prior study), the present results show that these activated regions were motion selective. Interestingly, motion-selective activations were observed on blocked scans as well as on mixed scans, indicating that the motion-selective process was engaged when the task-relevant dimension was fixed and the cue only provided direction information. This result is consistent with prior evidence that the motion-selective process is directionally specific (Shulman et al., 1999
).
Preparatory activity for the selective processing of motion was not observed in occipital regions. In our previous study, cue direction was specified by an arrow rather than by a word. Although MT+ activation was significantly greater following an arrow cue than a passive viewing cue, this activation was transient (Shulman et al., 1999), indicating that MT+ was not involved in maintaining the cue information. Similar transient MT+ responses were produced by an arrow cue specifying the location of a target (Corbetta et al., 2000
). These results indicate that top-down control signals do not invariably produce sustained pre-activations of early visual areas in anticipation of a target (Chawla et al., 1999
; Kastner et al., 1999
).
Motion-selective modulations of stimulus-evoked BOLD signals were also observed during the test period (Culham et al., 1998). The magnitude of the BOLD signal in a variety of dorsal areas was larger for motion than color judgments involving the identical stimulus. Some modulations occurred in a left posterior parietal region that was also modulated during the cue period, indicating that it engaged both preparatory and stimulus-evoked attentional processes. However, stimulus-evoked modulations were also observed uniquely in a larger set of regions in frontal (R precentral/SFs), parietal (R SPL and IPs, R bilateral precuneus), and occipital cortex (bilateral MT+, right TOs). The motion-selective preparatory signal in left posterior parietal cortex may have been the instruction signal for these additional modulations during the test period.
Specification of Task-relevant Information
Since the test stimulus was the same during the motion and color tasks, it was necessary to specify which dimension should be selectively processed. On blocked scans, this information could be tonically maintained. On mixed scans, however, the appropriate modulation had to be generated each trial, accounting for the observed difference in the BOLD signal on mixed and blocked scans. The BOLD signal in regions affected by Cue Mode, as well as behavioral accuracy, was not affected by whether the task-relevant dimension on the previous trial was the same or different. This result indicates that a task set and corresponding modulation was generated each trial, regardless of the task set on the previous trial.
The present study manipulated the task-relevant stimulus dimension (e.g. color and motion), thereby changing how the test stimuli were mapped onto responses. We suggest that the process indexed by Cue Mode was involved in specifying which input should control the response. This hypothesis explains why it was not engaged on blocked scans, even though the cued feature changed over trials (e.g. leftward and rightward motion were cued on different trials). Since only one motion direction and one hue appeared in the test stimulus (e.g. red dots moving left), knowledge of the task-relevant dimension was sufficient to specify which input should be linked to a response. If two superimposed dot patterns had been presented (e.g. red dots moving left, green dots moving right), then knowledge of the task-relevant feature (e.g. left), not just the dimension, would have been necessary to link an input to a response. The current hypothesis predicts that under these conditions, task-specification signals would have been generated in scans in which the cue dimension was blocked.
Preparatory neural correlates of task specification were observed in left frontal cortex and left IPs. During the cue period, a region in left dIFg/IFs showed only an effect of task specification, with no modulation related to the task-relevant dimension, indicating that the task-specification signals generalized over dimensions. A very similar region has been activated in encoding tasks involving materials that can be verbally coded (e.g. words, namable objects) (Kelley et al., 1998). We suggest that this left frontal region was engaged in the current study by verbal coding processes related to the specification of task information and sent this information to left posterior parietal cortex. The left frontal region did not show significant task-specification effects during the subsequent test period. Although this is a null result, it is consistent with the hypothesis that it was primarily involved in the initial coding of task specification. In contrast, left parietal cortex did show significant task-specification effects during the test period, possibly reflecting on-line maintenance of task information as the trial proceeded.
Task-specification signals in left posterior parietal cortex were observed for both color and motion cues, indicating that they generalized over dimensions. Other studies (Kimberg et al., 2000; Sohn et al., 2000
) have reported that when subjects switched between task sets involving letters and digits, activation related to the switch was confined to a similar left parietal region, indicating that this region was activated by task-specification processes related to shape/identity. Therefore, the current results show that this region codes information in a sufficiently abstract form that many different types of inputs can be represented.
Relationship Between Task Specification and Motion Selectivity
Unlike left frontal cortex, left posterior parietal cortex showed effects of both task specification and motion selectivity. The two variables were roughly additive in this region. Acceptance of additivity must be treated cautiously since it is based on the null hypothesis and subtle interactions may well have been present. The main point, however, is that roughly similar effects of task specification were observed on color and motion trials, and roughly similar effects of motion selectivity were observed on mixed and blocked scans (see time-courses in Fig. 2). A standard interpretation of additivity is independence; task-specification and motion-selective processes involved independent functions. In this view, the involvement of both processes within the same overall tissue remains unexplained. This interpretation of additivity also involves assumptions about the appropriate underlying scale of BOLD activity (e.g. linear, logarithmic).
An alternative hypothesis is that abstract task representations affected motion-selective pathways. Left frontal regions involved in task specification may have sent signals to left parietal motion-selective regions. On motion trials, these task-specification signals facilitated motion processing, while on color trials, these signals attenuated motion processing. Interestingly, significant task-specification signals were not observed in occipital motion-selective regions, such as MT+, indicating that task specification did not influence the lower cortical tier of the motion processing stream. This result suggests that these signals may have affected higher-order representations involved in categorizing the stimulus motion with respect to the cue. In summary, the combined effects of task specification and motion selectivity within left parietal cortex may reflect influences of abstract task representations on more specialized motion pathways.
Left Hemisphere Dominance and Verbal/Symbolic Coding during the Cue Period
During the cue period, significant effects of motion selectivity and task specification in parietal cortex were confined to the left hemisphere. This left hemisphere bias likely reflected the use of verbal cues, although it may be observed with other symbolic formats. A left hemisphere bias during the cue period was much less marked in a previous study using arrow cues (Shulman et al., 1999), which specified direction in an analog format. It is interesting that the format specifying the appropriate task set had such a strong impact on the parietal system preparing that set.
Eye Movements and Task Difficulty Do Not Explain the Results
During the cue period, it is very unlikely that subjects differentially moved their eyes following the foveal color and motion word cues and this supposition is strongly supported by the results. Differential activations did not occur in routinely observed eye movement regions such as the supplementary eye fields (Petit et al., 1997; Corbetta et al., 1998
; Luna et al., 1998
). Second, the cue period activations showed a left hemisphere dominance, consistent with encoding of the verbal cue, but inconsistent with eye movements, which produce bilateral activations (Petit et al., 1997
; Corbetta et al., 1998
; Luna et al., 1998
). Finally, there is no plausible eye movement account for the effects of Cue Mode, particularly since these effects were observed on both color and motion trials. Effects of Cue Mode overlapped the parietal regions that showed effects of motion selectivity. With respect to issues of task difficulty, both the motion and color tasks were quite difficult, with performance at or near threshold and reaction times of over a second. Moreover, no significant performance differences were observed between the mixed and blocked scans.
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Conclusion |
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Acknowledgments |
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