Do ERP components triggered during attentional orienting represent supramodal attentional control?

Seiss, Ellen; Gherri, Elena; Eardley, Alison F.; Eimer, Martin · 2007 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00591.x

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Summary

This study investigates whether the Anterior Directing Attention Negativity (ADAN), an event-related potential (ERP) component associated with spatial attention shifts, represents a supramodal control process or is specific to visual attention. Previous research suggested ADAN reflects supramodal control because it appeared during visual, auditory, and tactile tasks. However, conflicting findings by Green et al. (2005) reported that ADAN was absent when auditory cues directed attention to auditory targets, leading to the hypothesis that ADAN is linked specifically to visual spatial control. The authors hypothesized that this discrepancy arose from differences in task demands, specifically that requiring frequent responses to uncued stimuli in Green’s paradigm may have diffused attentional focus, thereby suppressing the ADAN. To test this, the authors conducted an experiment with twelve participants using a purely unimodal auditory attention task. Participants viewed a fixation cross while central auditory cues (1000 or 1500 Hz tones) indicated the side (left or right) where subsequent stimuli would appear. After a 900 ms interval, participants heard either a target (white noise with or without a gap) or a probe (cowbell sound). The study manipulated the frequency of probe presentation: in the "infrequent probe" condition, probes appeared on one-third of trials (replicating Green et al.’s design), while in the "frequent probe" condition, probes appeared on two-thirds of trials, encouraging a more focused attentional state. EEG was recorded from 63 electrodes, and data were analyzed for lateralized ERP components in the cue-target interval, specifically looking for ADAN (300–500 ms at anterior sites) and Late Directing Attention Positivity (LDAP, 600–900 ms at posterior sites). The results demonstrated that both ADAN and LDAP were reliably elicited in response to auditory cues in both the frequent and infrequent probe conditions. Statistical analysis confirmed significant lateralization effects for ADAN at lateral anterior electrodes and for LDAP at lateral posterior electrodes, regardless of probe frequency. Although the ADAN amplitude was smaller in the infrequent probe condition compared to previous cross-modal studies, it remained statistically significant when analyzed across multiple anterior electrode pairs. Behavioral data showed faster reaction times to probes in the frequent condition, confirming that attention was more focused in that condition. The authors noted that the ADAN was not significant when restricted to the specific electrode pair (F5/6) used by Green et al., suggesting that methodological differences in electrode selection may have contributed to the earlier null findings. The study concludes that the ADAN is not restricted to visual or tactile attention tasks but is also triggered during purely auditory attention shifts. This finding challenges the claim that ADAN is specific to visual spatial control and supports the interpretation that it reflects supramodal attentional control mechanisms. The consistent presence of LDAP further supports its role in supramodal control, though the authors note it may also relate to visually mediated spatial anchoring. Overall, the results reinforce the view that endogenous shifts of spatial attention are governed by shared neural mechanisms across sensory modalities.

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Topics

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• attention selective divided
• multisensory crossmodal