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Spatial Distribution of Attentional Modulation at Columnar Resolution in Macaque Area V4
Hisashi Tanigawa1, Gang Chen2, Anna W Roe2
1Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology, Zhejiang UniversityHangzhou, China; Center for Transdisciplinary Research, Niigata UniversityNiigata, Japan; Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN, USA.
Frontiers in Neural Circuits
|December 27, 2016
Summary
Spatial attention enhances global signals in visual cortex, not stimulus-specific activity. This finding suggests global signals are key to how the brain processes attention.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Neuronal responses in visual cortex are modulated by spatial attention.
- Cortical responses have two components: global signals and domain activity.
- The role of these components in attentional modulation is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the spatial distribution of attentional modulation at columnar resolution in area V4.
- To determine whether global signals or domain activity are modulated by spatial attention.
Main Methods:
- Cerebral blood volume (CBV)-based optical imaging was used in monkeys.
- Monkeys performed a color change detection task with manipulated spatial attention.
- Attentional modulation was analyzed at columnar resolution.
Main Results:
- Spatial attention significantly enhanced global signals in hemodynamic responses.
- Stimulus-selective domain activities were not affected by spatial attention.
- Results indicate attentional modulation primarily affects global signals.
Conclusions:
- Global signals play a crucial role in the neural processing of spatial attention.
- Global signals may represent the neural basis of normalization pools in attention models.
- Findings advance understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying visual attention.
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