Cite as:
Smith D, Jackson S R, Rorden C, 2004, "Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left human frontal eye fields eliminates the cost of invalid endogenous cues" Perception 33 ECVP Abstract Supplement

Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left human frontal eye fields eliminates the cost of invalid endogenous cues

D Smith, S R Jackson, C Rorden

There is mounting evidence that covert shifts of attention may activate many of the same brain regions involved when executing eye movements. For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show that the oculomotor regions known as the frontal eye fields (FEF) are involved with shifts of attention. However, it remains possible that the activations seen in these studies result from active inhibition of eye movements rather than modulation of perceptual processing. Here, we provide direct evidence for the role of this region in endogenously driven spatial attention. We show that briefly disrupting the left frontal eye fields with transcranial magnetic stimulation eliminated the slow response times associated with invalid strategic cues when the target appeared in the right visual field. Our findings appear to contradict the null results reported by Grosbras and Paus (2003 Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 14 1109 - 1120), and we suggest this is likely due to design differences. Specifically, we disrupted the FEF at the time of cue onset, rather than target onset. Taken together with the findings of Grosbras and Paus, our findings suggest that the FEF plays an early role in the inhibition of perceptual information.

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