The focus of spatial attention can be not only oriented to a particular location, but also adjusted in its size to select visual information from a narrow (zoom-in) or broad (zoom-out) region of the visual field. Attentional orienting, saccades programming, and visual search have been linked to the frontal eye fields (FEF) activity. However, the FEF causal role in the frontoparietal network for the attentional focus size modulation remains unclear. Here, we delivered single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on FEF while participants performed an attentional zooming task. They were asked to detect a visual target appearing at 3 eccentricities from the fixation. Two cue types modulated the size of the attended region: a small cue was employed to narrow the attentional focus, whereas a large cue induced participants to broaden the attended region. Results showed that TMS delivered on the right FEF, but not on the left FEF, was able to interfere with both zoom-in and zoom-out attentional mechanisms. Our results provide the first evidence of the right FEF casual role in the attentional zooming control and give new insights into the neural mechanisms of dysfunctional spatial attention deployment shown in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and dyslexia.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 March 2019.
All research outputs
#11,343,008
of 34,240,563 outputs
Outputs from Cerebral Cortex
#2,638
of 5,748 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#79,667
of 228,710 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cerebral Cortex
#27
of 70 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,240,563 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 66th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,748 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 228,710 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 70 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its contemporaries.
