Fig. 1. Functional and structural identification of the putative ventral endogenous attention node.

a Whole brain model of the three-node attention network of the macaque as defined by functional activation in ref. ¹⁰. b Functional characterization of the macaque ventral attention node and nearby areas displayed on a schematic flat map of the right superior temporal sulcus¹⁰. PITd was activated by attention, but not by motion – the task relevant dimension. c Schematic of macaque PITd connections with the dorsal attention network as defined in ref. ¹⁹. d Whole brain model of the human fronto-parietal attention network and the two candidate areas possibly constituting a human ventral node for endogenous attention. e Schematic flat map of the human superior temporal sulcus and the quest for a functional characterization of parieto-temporal areas around phPIT and TPJ. f Schematic of the hypothesized connections between the putative ventral attention node and the dorsal attention network; colored squares indicate possible alternative hypothesis for the homolog fibers bundles in humans and macaques. g Schematic of the components of the endogenous (red) and exogenous (blue) attention network in the human brain; neuroimaging data suggest stronger activation in the right hemisphere for the latter (opaque vs. transparent blue). as arcuate sulcus, ips intraparietal sulcus, ots occipito-temporal sulcus, precs pre-central sulcus, sts superior temporal sulcus, FEF Frontal Eye Field, FST fundus of the superior temporal sulcus, LIP Lateral Intraparietal area, MT and MT+ middle temporal area, MST medial superior temporal area, PITd Posterior Infero-Temporal dorsal area, phPIT putative human Posterior Infero-Temporal area, TPJ temporo-parietal junction, Arc Arcuate Fasciculus, EmC Extreme Capsule, IFOF Inferior Frontal Occipital Fasciculus, ILF Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus, pArc posterior Arcuate Fasciculus, SLF Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus, TP–SPL Temporo-Parietal connection to the Superior Temporal Lobule, vILF vertical branch of the Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus, VOF Vertical Occipital Fasciculus.