Bilateral Field Advantage of Spatial Attention in Macaque Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Visual Attention

Background:

• Behavioral studies show an advantage in visual attention when distractors are in the opposite visual hemifield compared to the same hemifield.
• The neural basis for this bilateral field advantage in attention remains largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the bilateral field advantage in visual attention.
• To compare neural activity and decoding performance between across-hemifield and within-hemifield attention tasks.

Main Methods:

• Two macaques performed a covert spatial attention task under across-hemifield and within-hemifield conditions.
• Recorded neuronal responses from the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC).
• Utilized linear classifiers to decode attention allocation from neuronal ensemble activity.

Main Results:

• Behavioral performance was significantly higher in the across-hemifield condition than the within-hemifield condition.
• A larger proportion of LPFC neurons encoded attention allocation in the across condition.
• Single LPFC neurons showed enhanced discrimination of attention allocation in the across condition.
• Decoding of attention allocation from neuronal ensembles revealed a bilateral field advantage.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a neural correlate for the behavioral bilateral field advantage in visual attention.
• Lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) circuitry plays a role in the observed bilateral field advantage.
• The findings suggest LPFC involvement in integrating information across visual hemifields for attentional control.