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Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention
Published on: September 11, 2017
Attention directed by expectations enhances receptive fields in cortical area MT
Geoffrey M Ghose1, David W Bearl
1Department of Neuroscience, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. geoff@cmrr.umn.edu
Vision Research
|October 13, 2009
Summary
Strong expectations, developed through extensive training, enhance visual performance. This study reveals specific cellular-level changes in visual representations within area MT, improving motion pulse detection reliability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Expectations significantly improve visual performance.
- The precise neural mechanisms of expectation-driven enhancement are not fully understood.
- Distinguishing expectation-based mechanisms from attention-based ones is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how strong expectations alter visual representations at a cellular level.
- To determine if these changes are specific and go beyond simple gain modulation.
- To understand the physiological basis of expectation-driven performance enhancement.
Main Methods:
- Trained animals to detect a motion pulse in noise, fostering strong expectations.
- Utilized white-noise analysis to map receptive fields of neurons in area MT.
- Incorporated non-linearities to compare receptive fields during expectation and non-expectation periods.
Main Results:
- Observed receptive field alterations in area MT neurons.
- These changes indicate increased reliability in signaling the expected motion pulse.
- The observed modifications were not attributable to simple gain modulation.
Conclusions:
- Strong expectations induce specific, non-linear changes in visual representations.
- These cellular-level adaptations enhance neural signaling for improved performance.
- Findings suggest distinct physiological mechanisms for expectation-based visual enhancement.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Association Areas of the Cortex
Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
01:14Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex
The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
01:24Vision
Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
01:33Somatosensation
The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.