Assessing interactions among neuronal systems using functional neuroimaging
Neural Networks - Special issue on the global brain: imaging and modelling
Neural Basis of Endogenous and Exogenous Spatial Orienting: A Functional MRI Study
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Cerebellar Contributions to Motor Timing: A PET Study of Auditory and Visual Rhythm Reproduction
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Orienting Attention to Points in Time Improves Stimulus Processing Both within and across Modalities
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Rhythm and Beat Perception in Motor Areas of the Brain
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
The neural correlate of speech rhythm as evidenced by metrical speech processing
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Auditory target detection is affected by implicit temporal and spatial expectations
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
The representation of audiovisual regularities in the human brain
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Interacting cortical and basal ganglia networks underlying finding and tapping to the musical beat
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
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When we direct attentional resources to a certain point in time, expectation and preparedness is heightened and behavior is, as a result, more efficient. This future-oriented attending can be guided either voluntarily, by externally defined cues, or implicitly, by perceived temporal regularities. Inspired by dynamic attending theory, our aim was to study the extent to which metrical structure, with its beats of greater or lesser relative strength, modulates attention implicitly over time and to uncover the neural circuits underlying this process of dynamic attending. We used fMRI to investigate whether auditory meter generated temporal expectancies and, consequently, how it affected processing of auditory and visual targets. Participants listened to a continuous auditory metrical sequence and pressed a button whenever an auditory or visual target was presented. The independent variable was the time of target presentation with respect to the metrical structure of the sequence. Participants' RTs to targets occurring on strong metrical positions were significantly faster than responses to events falling on weak metrical positions. Events falling on strong beats were accompanied by increased activation of the left inferior parietal cortex, a region crucial for orienting attention in time, and, by greater functional connectivity between the left inferior parietal cortex and the visual and auditory cortices, the SMA and the cerebellum. These results support the predictions of the dynamic attending theory that metrical structure with its relative strong and weak beats modulates attentional resources over time and, in turn, affects the functioning of both perceptual and motor preparatory systems.