ERP EFFECTS OF INTERMODAL ATTENTION AND CROSS-MODAL LINKS IN SPATIAL ATTENTION

Effects of intermodal attention AND of cross-modal links in spatial at tention on visual and auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were in vestigated in two experiments where participants had to attend to one stimulus modality (audition or vision) to respond to infrequently pres ented targets whenever these were presented at a relevant location (in dicated by a cue). The ERP effects of intermodal attention (measured b y comparing the ERPs elicited by visual and auditory stimuli when the respective modality was relevant or irrelevant) were differently distr ibuted in vision and audition, suggesting that intermodal attention op erates by a selective modulation of modality-specific areas. Similar E RP effects of spatial attention (measured by comparing the ERPs to sti muli at cued and uncued locations) were elicited at midline electrodes in vision and audition. With one notable exception, these effects wer e also present when attention was directed within the other modality, suggesting the existence of cross-modal links between vision and audit ion in the control of transient spatial attention.