Data from: Frontoparietal structural connectivity mediates the top-down control of neuronal synchronization associated with selective attention

Neuronal synchronization reflected by oscillatory brain activity has been strongly implicated in the mechanisms supporting selective gating. We here aimed at identifying the anatomical pathways in humans supporting the top-down control of neuronal synchronization. We first collected diffusion imaging data using magnetic resonance imaging to identify the medial branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), a white-matter tract connecting frontal control areas to parietal regions. We then quantified the modulations in oscillatory activity using magnetoencephalography in the same subjects performing a spatial attention task. We found that subjects with a stronger SLF volume in the right compared to the left hemisphere (or vice versa) also were the subjects who had a better ability to modulate right compared to left hemisphere alpha and gamma band synchronization, with the latter also predicting biases in reaction time. Our findings implicate the medial branch of the SLF in mediating top-down control of neuronal synchronization in sensory regions that support selective attention.脑振荡活动所反映的神经元同步化，已被广泛证实与介导选择性门控的神经机制紧密关联。本研究旨在明确人类体内支持神经元同步化自上而下调控的解剖通路。我们首先通过磁共振成像采集弥散成像数据，以此识别上纵束（superior longitudinal fasciculus, SLF）的内侧分支——这是一条连接前额叶控制脑区与顶叶区域的白质纤维束。随后，在执行空间注意任务的同一批受试者中，我们借助脑磁图对脑振荡活动的调制效应进行了量化分析。研究发现，右侧半球上纵束体积较左侧更大的受试者（反之亦然），其对右侧半球α频段与γ频段同步化的调制能力同样优于左侧半球受试者；且该调制能力亦可预测反应时偏差。本研究结果表明，上纵束内侧分支可介导支持选择性注意的感觉皮层区域内神经元同步化的自上而下调控。