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Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
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Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns
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Noradrenaline Modulates Visual Perception and Late Visually Evoked Activity.

Hagar Gelbard-Sagiv1, Efrat Magidov1, Haggai Sharon2

  • 1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.

Current Biology : CB
|July 10, 2018
PubMed
Summary

Noradrenaline (NE) levels causally link visual perception to external stimuli. Manipulating NE signaling in humans altered sensory detection, discrimination, and visibility, highlighting its role in awareness.

Keywords:
EEGLocus CoeruleusclonidinefMRIhumanneuromodulationnoradrenalinenorepinephrineperceptionreboxetinevision

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology

Background:

  • Perceptual experience depends on behavioral and cognitive states, with neuromodulation potentially playing a key role.
  • Noradrenaline (NE) is implicated in sensory processing and attention, but causal evidence linking it to perception is lacking.
  • NE levels are reduced during sleep, correlating with a disconnection from external stimuli.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the causal role of noradrenaline (NE) in linking sensory stimuli to perceptual awareness.
  • To examine how manipulating NE signaling affects visual perception, EEG, and fMRI responses in healthy volunteers.

Main Methods:

  • Employed double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments using clonidine (to downregulate NE) and reboxetine (to upregulate NE) in healthy participants.
  • Assessed perceptual abilities, including detection sensitivity, discrimination accuracy, and subjective visibility.
  • Measured visually evoked electroencephalography (EEG) and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses.

Main Results:

  • Noradrenaline (NE) levels significantly modulated detection sensitivity, discrimination accuracy, and subjective visibility, without affecting decision bias.
  • Increased NE enhanced the consistency of EEG visually evoked potentials and influenced early response components (around 200 ms).
  • BOLD fMRI activations in higher-order visual cortex showed selective variation correlating with NE signaling levels.

Conclusions:

  • Noradrenaline (NE) acts as a critical causal factor in connecting visual awareness to external world events.
  • Pharmacological modulation of NE signaling provides a direct link between NE levels and the fidelity of visual perception.
  • Findings elucidate the neurochemical mechanisms underlying conscious perception and attention.