Furthermore, our finding that the anterior insular cortex is involved in covert spatial attention is in line with previous

functional imaging studies showing responses associated with the allocation of covert (Eckert et al., 2009) as well as overt attention (Corbetta high throughput screening et al., 1991; Anderson et al., 1994) in this area. Yet, we could not identify a specific FOR in which covert search influenced the BOLD response in this region. Moreover, we also failed to find any eye-centred search-related BOLD responses in the SEF. The absence of a preference for eye-centred coding seems to be in line with the fact that also eye-head gaze shifts in monkeys evoked by electrical stimulation of the SEF can not be led back to a standard eye-centred coding scheme (Martinez-Trujillo et al., 2004). As mentioned in the Introduction, previous fMRI work suggested eye-centred coding of covert shifts of attention (Golomb & Kanwisher, 2011) in the IPS. Our finding of eye-centred coding in the full extent of the cortical network subserving attention shifting, including the IPS as well as the FEF, concurs with this report and further extends it. With respect to saccades, i.e. overt shifts of attention, there is compelling evidence for eye-centred coding for parietal BOLD responses associated with the generation of memory-guided saccades (Medendorp et al.,

2003) as well as with spatial selleck chemicals updating of visual responses (Merriam et al., 2003). Also, a more recent study using an fMRI repetition suppression approach provided support for eye-centred coding of saccades in the FEF and the IPS (Van Pelt et al., 2010). Unlike the two aforementioned saccade studies, a recent one by Pertzov et al. (2011) described evidence for the coexistence of different FORs for saccades in the IPS. While one patch in the IPS exhibited a modulation of BOLD activity in line with head-centred coding for saccades, others showed responses suggestive of eye-centred coding. Support for eye-centred coding Doxacurium chloride of visual

search/shifts of attention in humans also comes from a psychophysical study (Golomb et al., 2008) in which the allocation of spatial attention, guided by world-centred cues, was probed after saccades. As a matter of fact, the focus of attention, drawn to a specific location in the VF before the saccade stayed in the same eye-centred location after a subsequent saccade. Only later was an attentional benefit observable for the world-centred location. In other words, at least initially covert attention operates in an eye-centred FOR. On the other hand, hemispatial neglect, a syndrome characterized by an impairment of both covert and overt exploration of the left hemispace (Posner et al., 1984; Karnath, 1994), typically observed after lesions of right temporal but also parietal cortex (Karnath & Rorden, 2012), seems to be at odds with the notion of eye-centred coding of search.