Hemispheric functional segregation facilitates target detection during sustained visuospatial attention

Mauro DiNuzzo, Daniele Mascali, Giorgia Bussu, Marta Moraschi, Maria Guidi, Emiliano Macaluso, Silvia Mangia, Federico Giove

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Visuospatial attention is strongly lateralized, with the right hemisphere commonly exhibiting stronger activation and connectivity patterns than the left hemisphere during attentive processes. However, whether such asymmetry influences inter-hemispheric information transfer and behavioral performance is not known. Here we used a region of interest (ROI) and network-based approach to determine steady-state fMRI functional connectivity (FC) in the whole cerebral cortex during a leftward/rightward covert visuospatial attention task. We found that the global FC topology between either ROIs or networks was independent on the attended side. The side of attention significantly modulated FC strength between brain networks, with leftward attention primarily involving the connections of the right visual network with dorsal and ventral attention networks in both the left and right hemisphere. High hemispheric functional segregation significantly correlated with faster target detection response times (i.e., better performance). Our findings suggest that the dominance of the right hemisphere in visuospatial attention is associated with an hemispheric functional segregation that is beneficial for behavioral performance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalHuman Brain Mapping
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 15 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Regione Lazio, (Grant/Award Number: POR-FESR A0375-2020-36648). Italian Ministry of Health (Grant/Award Number: Ricerca corrente).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Keywords

  • covert attention
  • functional connectivity
  • hemispheric segregation
  • reaction times
  • steady-state fMRI
  • task performance

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