Spatial re-orienting of visual attention along the horizontal or the vertical axis

Neuroimaging data indicate functional segregation between voluntary and stimulus-driven control of spatial attention in dorsal and ventral fronto-parietal regions, respectively. While recent evidences demonstrated location-specific attentional effects in dorsal regions, little is known about any location or direction selectivity within the ventral network. Here, we used a spatial cueing paradigm to investigate stimulus-driven spatial re-orienting along different axes (horizontal or vertical). We found that re-orienting of attention activated the ventral attentional network, irrespective of axis-orientation. Statistical comparisons between homologous regions in the two hemispheres revealed significant main effects of attention re-orienting (common activation for the two hemispheres), irrespective of leftward or rightward re-orienting along the horizontal axis, or re-orienting along the vertical axis. We conclude that in healthy volunteers, a bilateral ventral network controls spatial covert re-orienting, and that this system is multidirectional.