Optogenetic-inactivation in lateral intraparietal area caused behavioral and whole brain changes specific to top-down and bottom-up control of attention (v1)

Attention is central to cognition, paying a crucial role in information selection for action, but the way attention is controlled is still not well understood. We used a multi-dimensional (local to whole-brain) and multi-methodological (behavioral, fMRI and optogenetics) approach to deepen our understanding of how bottom-up and top-down control of attention integrate in a unitary perspective. The approach was based on an event-related fMRI experiment using an attention task equally combining bottom-up and top-down cueing. In 50% of all distinct types of trials, the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) received continuous laser stimulation (300 ms; 635 nm) during the attention cue period of the task. Behavioral and fMRI data was recorded.