Pushing attention to one side: force field adaptation alters neural correlates of orienting and disengagement of spatial attention

Abstract

Sensorimotor adaptation to wedge prisms can alter the balance of attention between left and right space in healthy adults, and improve symptoms of spatial neglect after stroke. Here we asked whether the orienting of spatial attention to visual stimuli is affected by a different form of sensorimotor adaptation that involves physical perturbations of arm movement, rather than distortion of visual feedback. Healthy participants performed a cued discrimination task before and after they made reaching movements to a central target. A velocity‐dependent force field pushed the hand aside during each reach, and required participants to apply compensatory forces toward the opposite side. We used event‐related potentials (ERPs) to determine whether electroencephalography (EEG) responses reflecting orienting (cue‐locked N1) and disengagement (target‐locked P1) of spatial attention are affected by adaptation to force fields. After adaptation, the cue‐locked N1 was relatively larger for stimuli presented in the hemispace corresponding to the direction of compensatory hand force. P1 amplitudes evoked by invalidly cued targets presented on the opposite side were reduced. This suggests that force field adaptation boosted attentional orienting responses toward the side of hand forces, and impeded attentional disengagement from that side, mimicking previously reported effects of prism adaptation. Thus, remapping between motor commands and intended movement direction is sufficient to bias ERPs, reflecting changes in the orienting of spatial attention in the absence of visuo‐spatial distortion or visuo‐proprioceptive mismatch. Findings are relevant to theories of how sensorimotor adaptation can modulate attention, and may open new avenues for treatment of spatial neglect.

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