The time-course of activation in the dorsal and ventral visual streams during landmark cueing and perceptual discrimination tasks.

Different patterns of high density EEG activity were elicited by the same peripheral stimuli, in the context of Landmark Cueing and Perceptual Discrimination tasks. The C1 component of the visual event-related potential (ERP) at parietal – occipital electrode sites was larger in the Landmark task, and source localisation suggested greater activation in the superior parietal lobule (SPL) in this task, compared to the Discrimination task, indicating stronger early recruitment of the dorsal visual stream. In the Discrimination task, source localisation suggested widespread activation of the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and fusiform gyrus (FFG), structures associated with the ventral visual stream, during the early phase of the P1 ERP component. Moreover, during a later epoch (171-270ms after stimulus onset) increased temporal–occipital negativity, and stronger recruitment of ITG and FFG were observed in the Discrimination task. These findings illuminate the contrasting functions of the dorsal and ventral visual streams, to support rapid shifts of attention in response to contextual landmarks, and conscious discrimination, respectively.
Keywords: Attention; Perception; Dorsal visual stream; Ventral visual stream; visual orienting; consciousness.