The selective deployment of attention over time optimises our perception and action at the moments when relevant events are expected to happen. Such "temporal orienting" to moments when something is going to happen is especially useful when this information can be combined with predictions about where and what events are likely to occur. A large body of research has already established how temporal predictions dynamically influence our perception and action, but questions remain regarding the neural bases of these attentional mechanisms. In this thesis I present three magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies that I conducted to investigate anticipatory neural dynamics associated with spatial-temporal orienting of attention for perception and action. I also investigate and discuss how such anticipatory dynamics change with ageing and neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD), and how these anticipatory neural dynamics behave in situations where a complex, hidden spatial-temporal structure is present. In Chapter 1, I introduce the topic of this thesis by reviewing the literature on temporal orienting of attention and by introducing my specific research questions. In Chapter 2, I present an MEG study on anticipatory neural dynamics of joint spatial-temporal orienting of attention in the visual domain, in younger and older adults. This study shows that neural dynamics with spatial, temporal and spatial-temporal orienting are all differentially affected by ageing. In Chapter 3, I describe an MEG experiment that investigates anticipatory neural dynamics during spatial-temporal motor preparation and compares PD participants to healthy control participants. This study reveals that both behavioural and neural dynamics with temporal orienting are affected in PD. In Chapter 4, I describe an experiment that explores how an implicit spatial-temporal structure is utilised to predict and prepare for upcoming actions. This study shows that motor cortical excitability is dynamically modulated in anticipation of the location and timing of events, even when such expectations are hidden in complex visual-motor sequences that remain largely implicit. In Chapter 5, the General discussion, I place these results in their wider context and discuss limitations and future directions.

Attention is a cognitive mechanism that guides our perception in order to prioritize the limited resources to the most relevant information while ignoring distracting information. Attention can be voluntarily deployed to stimuli during tasks or goals, or the features of the stimulus can capture our attention either by being salient or being emotionally induced. Emotions affect multiple different cognitive processes such as attention because emotional stimuli can be relevant for defending or sustain life. This relationship between attention and emotion indicates that there should be interactive but distinct networks between these cognitive mechanisms as well as a modulative effect on perceptional and attentional systems. Emotions were in general demonstrating a facilitation affect on attentional and saccadic processes as well as broadening or narrowing the scope of attention. The reason behind emotions impact on attention was proposed to be for eliciting a change in the application of resources in order to solve the limited capacity problem and possibly to protect and sustain life. Inconsistent findings as well as limitations for emotional attention studies are discussed.

L'objectif de cette thèse était d'étudier la modalité auditive dans le syndrome de négligence spatiale unilatérale (NSU) que ce soit dans l'évaluation ou dans la prise en charge. Notre première hypothèse défendue était que, bien que la NSU touche aussi la modalité auditive, des différences dues aux spécificités de chaque modalité existent entre les symptômes auditifs et visuels de ce syndrome neuropsychologique. En conséquence, notre seconde hypothèse était que les spécificités propres à la modalité auditive pourraient permettre de pallier les déficits attentionnels rencontrés en modalité visuelle et, donc, faire de cette modalité un support efficace pour la rééducation. Concernant l'évaluation des symptômes auditifs, les mécanismes d'orientation de l'attention en modalité auditive ainsi que la latéralisation de sons ont été explorés chez des patients atteints de NSU. Ces études ont souligné des difficultés dans les deux domaines dans la NSU. Concernant la réhabilitation, la place de l'audition, et plus particulièrement de la musique, dans les rééducations proposées aux patients atteints de NSU a été explorée. Enfin, un programme de rééducation basé sur la pratique musicale a été créé et testé auprès d'une patiente atteinte de NSU chronique. Celui-ci a montré des bénéfices à long-terme sur les signes visuels de la NSU mais également dans la vie quotidienne. Les résultats de ces études vont dans le sens des hypothèses et soulignent l'importance de prendre en compte la modalité auditive dans la pratique clinique que ce soit lors de l'évaluation du syndrome de NSU ou lors de sa réhabilitation. / The aim of this thesis was to focus on hearing in the evaluation and the rehabilitation of unilateral spatial neglect (USN) syndrome. USN not only affects the visual, but also the auditory modality. The first hypothesis of this thesis was that, due to the specificities of each modality, differences exist between the auditory and visual symptoms of USN. Consequently, the second hypothesis was that the specificities of the auditory modality could permit to compensate the attentional deficits that occur in the visual modality and, thus, make this modality an efficient tool for the rehabilitation. Concerning the evaluation of the auditory symptoms, orienting attention mechanisms in the auditory modality as well as sound lateralisation were explored with patients with USN. These studies showed patients with USN to have difficulties in both. Concerning the rehabilitation, the place of hearing, and in particular of music, in the re-educations in patients with USN was explored. Finally, a program based on music practice was developed and tested with a patient with a chronic USN. This patient showed long-term benefits on USN visual signs and also on daily activities. The results of these studies are consistent with the hypotheses and underline the importance of considering hearing in clinical practice either for the USN evaluation or for its rehabilitation.