HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yucel, G. Articles by Belger, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yucel, G. Articles by Belger, A.

Graded Visual Attention Modulates Brain Responses Evoked by Task-irrelevant Auditory Pitch Changes

¹ Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, ² Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, ³ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Reprint requests should be sent to Aysenil Belger, The Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Box 3918, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, or via e-mail: abelger{at}med.unc.edu.

Previous studies suggested that auditory change-specific neural responses are attention-independent and reflect central auditory processing. The automaticity of the brain's response to infrequent changes in pitch within a series of auditory tone pips was examined in parallel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential (ERP) studies. Subjects performed a continuous perceptual-motor visual tracking task at two levels of difficulty while simultaneously hearing a series of task-irrelevant standard tone pips and infrequent pitch-deviant tones. fMRI results revealed that the unattended pitch-deviant tones strongly activated superior temporal and frontal cortical regions. These activations were significantly modulated by the tracking difficulty of the primary task. ERP results revealed that the amplitude of the scalp-negative component evoked by deviant tones (MMN) was attenuated during the more difficult tracking task. Our results demonstrate that the brain's response to task-irrelevant sensory changes is strongly influenced by intermodal attentional demands.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				I. SanMiguel, M.-J. Corral, and C. Escera When Loading Working Memory Reduces Distraction: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence from an Auditory-Visual Distraction Paradigm J. Cogn. Neurosci., July 1, 2008; 20(7): 1131 - 1145. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				O. van der Stelt and A. Belger Application of Electroencephalography to the Study of Cognitive and Brain Functions in Schizophrenia Schizophr Bull, July 1, 2007; 33(4): 955 - 970. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]