Objects play an important role in guiding spatial attention through a clutt
ered visual environment. We used event-related functional magnetic resonanc
e imaging (ER-fMRI) to measure brain activity during cued discrimination ta
sks requiring subjects to orient attention either to a region bounded by an
object (object-based spatial attention) or to an unbounded region of space
(location-based spatial attention) in anticipation of an upcoming target.
Comparison between the two tasks revealed greater activation when attention
selected a region bounded by an object. This activation was strongly later
alized to the left hemisphere and formed a widely distributed network inclu
ding (a) attentional structures in parietal and temporal cortex and thalamu
s, (b) ventral-stream object processing structures in occipital, inferior-t
emporal, and parahippocampal cortex, and (c) control structures in medial-
and dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that object-based
spatial selection is achieved by imposing additional constraints over and
above those processes already operating to achieve selection of an unbounde
d region. In addition, ER-fMRI methodology allowed a comparison of validly
versus invalidly cued trials, thereby delineating brain structures involved
in the reorientation of attention after its initial deployment proved inco
rrect. All areas of activation that differentiated between these two trial
types resulted from greater activity during the invalid trials. This outcom
e suggests that all brain areas involved in attentional orienting and task
performance in response to valid cues are also involved on invalid trials.
During invalid trials, additional brain regions are recruited when a percei
ver recovers from invalid cueing and reorients attention to a target appear
ing at an uncued location. Activated brain areas specific to attentional re
orientation were strongly right-lateralized and included posterior temporal
and inferior parietal regions previously implicated in visual attention pr
ocesses, as well as prefrontal regions that likely subserve control process
es, particularly related to inhibition of inappropriate responding.