1
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Beffara B, Hadj‐Bouziane F, Hamed SB, Boehler CN, Chelazzi L, Santandrea E, Macaluso E. Separate and overlapping mechanisms of statistical regularities and salience processing in the occipital cortex and dorsal attention network. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:6439-6458. [PMID: 37877138 PMCID: PMC10681649 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Attention selects behaviorally relevant inputs for in-depth processing. Beside the role of traditional signals related to goal-directed and stimulus-driven control, a debate exists regarding the mechanisms governing the effect of statistical regularities on attentional selection, and how these are integrated with other control signals. Using a visuo-spatial search task under fMRI, we tested the joint effects of statistical regularities and stimulus-driven salience. We found that both types of signals modulated occipital activity in a spatially specific manner. Salience acted primarily by reducing the attention bias towards the target location when associated with irrelevant distractors, while statistical regularities reduced this attention bias when the target was presented at a low probability location, particularly at the lower levels of the visual hierarchy. In addition, we found that both statistical regularities and salience activated the dorsal frontoparietal network. Additional exploratory analyses of functional connectivity revealed that only statistical regularities modulated the inter-regional coupling between the posterior parietal cortex and the occipital cortex. These results show that statistical regularities and salience signals are both spatially represented at the occipital level, but that their integration into attentional processing priorities relies on dissociable brain mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bertrand Beffara
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL)Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERMBronFrance
| | - Fadila Hadj‐Bouziane
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL)Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERMBronFrance
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Lyon, UMR5229, CNRSUniversité de LyonLyonFrance
| | - C. Nico Boehler
- Department of Experimental PsychologyGhent UniversityGhentBelgium
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine, and Movement SciencesUniversity of VeronaVeronaItaly
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine, and Movement SciencesUniversity of VeronaVeronaItaly
| | - Emiliano Macaluso
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon (CRNL)Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERMBronFrance
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2
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Sachse EM, Snyder AC. Dynamic attention signalling in V4: Relation to fast-spiking/non-fast-spiking cell class and population coupling. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 57:918-939. [PMID: 36732934 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The computational role of a neuron during attention depends on its firing properties, neurotransmitter expression and functional connectivity. Neurons in the visual cortical area V4 are reliably engaged by selective attention but exhibit diversity in the effect of attention on firing rates and correlated variability. It remains unclear what specific neuronal properties shape these attention effects. In this study, we quantitatively characterised the distribution of attention modulation of firing rates across populations of V4 neurons. Neurons exhibited a continuum of time-varying attention effects. At one end of the continuum, neurons' spontaneous firing rates were slightly depressed with attention (compared to when unattended), whereas their stimulus responses were enhanced with attention. The other end of the continuum showed the converse pattern: attention depressed stimulus responses but increased spontaneous activity. We tested whether the particular pattern of time-varying attention effects that a neuron exhibited was related to the shape of their actions potentials (so-called 'fast-spiking' [FS] neurons have been linked to inhibition) and the strength of their coupling to the overall population. We found an interdependence among neural attention effects, neuron type and population coupling. In particular, we found neurons for which attention enhanced spontaneous activity but suppressed stimulus responses were less likely to be fast-spiking (more likely to be non-fast-spiking) and tended to have stronger population coupling, compared to neurons with other types of attention effects. These results add important information to our understanding of visual attention circuits at the cellular level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth M Sachse
- Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.,Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Adam C Snyder
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.,Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.,Center for Visual Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
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3
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Beffara B, Hadj-Bouziane F, Hamed SB, Boehler CN, Chelazzi L, Santandrea E, Macaluso E. Dynamic causal interactions between occipital and parietal cortex explain how endogenous spatial attention and stimulus-driven salience jointly shape the distribution of processing priorities in 2D visual space. Neuroimage 2022; 255:119206. [PMID: 35427770 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Visuo-spatial attention prioritizes the processing of relevant inputs via different types of signals, including current goals and stimulus salience. Complex mixtures of these signals engage in everyday life situations, but little is known about how these signals jointly modulate distributed patterns of activity across the occipital regions that represent visual space. Here, we measured spatio-topic, quadrant-specific occipital activity during the processing of visual displays containing both task-relevant targets and salient color-singletons. We computed spatial bias vectors indexing the effect of attention in 2D space, as coded by distributed activity in the occipital cortex. We found that goal-directed spatial attention biased activity towards the target and that salience further modulated this endogenous effect: salient distractors decreased the spatial bias, while salient targets increased it. Analyses of effective connectivity revealed that the processing of salient distractors relied on the modulation of the bidirectional connectivity between the occipital and the posterior parietal cortex, as well as the modulation of the lateral interactions within the occipital cortex. These findings demonstrate that goal-directed attention and salience jointly contribute to shaping processing priorities in the occipital cortex and highlight that multiple functional paths determine how spatial information about these signals is distributed across occipital regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bertrand Beffara
- IMPACT Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France.
| | - Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
- IMPACT Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Lyon, UMR5229, CNRS, Université de Lyon, France
| | - C Nico Boehler
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Emiliano Macaluso
- IMPACT Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
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4
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Krajbich I, Mitsumasu A, Polania R, Ruff CC, Fehr E. A causal role for the right frontal eye fields in value comparison. eLife 2021; 10:e67477. [PMID: 34779767 PMCID: PMC8592572 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested close functional links between overt visual attention and decision making. This suggests that the corresponding mechanisms may interface in brain regions known to be crucial for guiding visual attention - such as the frontal eye field (FEF). Here, we combined brain stimulation, eye tracking, and computational approaches to explore this possibility. We show that inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the right FEF has a causal impact on decision making, reducing the effect of gaze dwell time on choice while also increasing reaction times. We computationally characterize this putative mechanism by using the attentional drift diffusion model (aDDM), which reveals that FEF inhibition reduces the relative discounting of the non-fixated option in the comparison process. Our findings establish an important causal role of the right FEF in choice, elucidate the underlying mechanism, and provide support for one of the key causal hypotheses associated with the aDDM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Krajbich
- Departments of Psychology, Economics, The Ohio State UniversityColumbusUnited States
| | - Andres Mitsumasu
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Rafael Polania
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Depterment of Heatlh Sciences and Technology, ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Christian C Ruff
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Ernst Fehr
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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5
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Di Caro V, Della Libera C. Statistical learning of target selection and distractor suppression shape attentional priority according to different timeframes. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13761. [PMID: 34215819 PMCID: PMC8253746 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93335-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent findings suggest that attentional and oculomotor control is heavily affected by past experience, giving rise to selection and suppression history effects, so that target selection is facilitated if they appear at frequently attended locations, and distractor filtering is facilitated at frequently ignored locations. While selection history effects once instantiated seem to be long-lasting, whether suppression history is similarly durable is still debated. We assessed the permanence of these effects in a unique experimental setting investigating eye-movements, where the locations associated with statistical unbalances were exclusively linked with either target selection or distractor suppression. Experiment 1 and 2 explored the survival of suppression history in the long and in the short term, respectively, revealing that its lingering traces are relatively short lived. Experiment 3 showed that in the very same experimental context, selection history effects were long lasting. These results seem to suggest that different mechanisms support the learning-induced plasticity triggered by selection and suppression history. Specifically, while selection history may depend on lasting changes within stored representations of the visual space, suppression history effects hinge instead on a functional plasticity which is transient in nature, and involves spatial representations which are constantly updated and adaptively sustain ongoing oculomotor control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Di Caro
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Chiara Della Libera
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
- Section of Physiology and Psychology, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona - Medical School, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134, Verona, Italy.
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6
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Archer K, Pammer K, Vidyasagar TR. A Temporal Sampling Basis for Visual Processing in Developmental Dyslexia. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:213. [PMID: 32733217 PMCID: PMC7360833 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 05/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowledge of oscillatory entrainment and its fundamental role in cognitive and behavioral processing has increasingly been applied to research in the field of reading and developmental dyslexia. Growing evidence indicates that oscillatory entrainment to theta frequency spoken language in the auditory domain, along with cross-frequency theta-gamma coupling, support phonological processing (i.e., cognitive encoding of linguistic knowledge gathered from speech) which is required for reading. This theory is called the temporal sampling framework (TSF) and can extend to developmental dyslexia, such that inadequate temporal sampling of speech-sounds in people with dyslexia results in poor theta oscillatory entrainment in the auditory domain, and thus a phonological processing deficit which hinders reading ability. We suggest that inadequate theta oscillations in the visual domain might account for the many magno-dorsal processing, oculomotor control and visual deficits seen in developmental dyslexia. We propose two possible models of a magno-dorsal visual correlate to the auditory TSF: (1) A direct correlate that involves "bottom-up" magnocellular oscillatory entrainment of the visual domain that occurs when magnocellular populations phase lock to theta frequency fixations during reading and (2) an inverse correlate whereby attending to text triggers "top-down" low gamma signals from higher-order visual processing areas, thereby organizing magnocellular populations to synchronize to a theta frequency to drive the temporal control of oculomotor movements and capturing of letter images at a higher frequency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim Archer
- Applied Psychology and Human Factors Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Kristen Pammer
- Applied Psychology and Human Factors Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Trichur Raman Vidyasagar
- Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia
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7
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Getting rid of visual distractors: the why, when, how, and where. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 29:135-147. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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8
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Probing the Neural Mechanisms for Distractor Filtering and Their History-Contingent Modulation by Means of TMS. J Neurosci 2019; 39:7591-7603. [PMID: 31387915 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2740-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Revised: 07/19/2019] [Accepted: 07/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
In visual search, the presence of a salient, yet task-irrelevant, distractor in the stimulus array interferes with target selection and slows down performance. Neuroimaging data point to a key role of the frontoparietal dorsal attention network in dealing with visual distractors; however, the respective roles of different nodes within the network and their hemispheric specialization are still unresolved. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to evaluate the causal role of two key regions of the dorsal attention network in resisting attentional capture by a salient singleton distractor: the frontal eye field (FEF) and the cortex within the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). The task of the participants (male/female human volunteers) was to discriminate the pointing direction of a target arrow while ignoring a task-irrelevant salient distractor. Immediately after stimulus onset, triple-pulse 10 Hz TMS was delivered either to IPS or FEF on either side of the brain. Results indicated that TMS over the right FEF significantly reduced the behavioral cost engendered by the salient distractor relative to left FEF stimulation. No such effect was obtained with stimulation of IPS on either side of brain. Interestingly, this FEF-dependent reduction in distractor interference interacted with the contingent trial history, being maximal when no distractor was present on the previous trial relative to when there was one. Our results provide direct causal evidence that the right FEF houses key mechanisms for distractor filtering, pointing to a pivotal role of the frontal cortex of the right hemisphere in limiting interference from an irrelevant but attention-grabbing stimulus.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visually conspicuous stimuli attract our attention automatically and interfere with performance by diverting resources away from the main task. Here, we applied transcranial magnetic stimulation over four frontoparietal cortex locations (frontal eye field and intraparietal sulcus in each hemisphere) to identify regions of the dorsal attention network that help limit interference from task-irrelevant, salient distractors. Results indicate that the right FEF participates in distractor-filtering mechanisms that are recruited when a distracting stimulus is encountered. Moreover, right FEF implements adjustments in distraction-filtering mechanisms following recent encounters with distractors. Together, these findings indicate a different hemispheric contribution of the left versus right dorsal frontal cortex to distraction filtering. This study expands our understanding of how our brains select relevant targets in the face of task-irrelevant, salient distractors.
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9
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Representation of shape, space, and attention in monkey cortex. Cortex 2019; 122:40-60. [PMID: 31345568 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2018] [Revised: 02/26/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Attentional deficits are core to numerous developmental, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. At the single-cell level, much knowledge has been garnered from studies of shape and spatial properties, as well as from numerous demonstrations of attentional modulation of those properties. Despite this wealth of knowledge of single-cell responses across many brain regions, little is known about how these cellular characteristics relate to population level representations and how such representations relate to behavior; in particular, how these cellular responses relate to the representation of shape, space, and attention, and how these representations differ across cortical areas and streams. Here we will emphasize the role of population coding as a missing link for connecting single-cell properties with behavior. Using a data-driven intrinsic approach to population decoding, we show that both 'what' and 'where' cortical visual streams encode shape, space, and attention, yet demonstrate striking differences in these representations. We suggest that both pathways fully process shape and space, but that differences in representation may arise due to their differing functions and input and output constraints. Moreover, differences in the effects of attention on shape and spatial population representations in the two visual streams suggest two distinct strategies: in a ventral area, attention or task demands modulate the population representations themselves (perhaps to expand or enhance one part at the expense of other parts) while in a dorsal area, at a population representation level, attention effects are weak and nearly non-existent, perhaps in order to maintain veridical representations needed for visuomotor control. We show that an intrinsic approach, as opposed to theory-driven and labeled approaches, is useful for understanding how representations develop and differ across brain regions. Most importantly, these approaches help link cellular properties more tightly with behavior, a much-needed step to better understand and interpret cellular findings and key to providing insights to improve interventions in human disorders.
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10
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Di Caro V, Theeuwes J, Della Libera C. Suppression history of distractor location biases attentional and oculomotor control. VISUAL COGNITION 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2019.1617376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Di Caro
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Jan Theeuwes
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institute Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (iBBA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Chiara Della Libera
- Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
- National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy
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11
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Revealing Dissociable Attention Biases in Chronic Smokers Through an Individual-Differences Approach. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4930. [PMID: 30894577 PMCID: PMC6427017 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40957-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2018] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Addiction is accompanied by attentional biases (AB), wherein drug-related cues grab attention independently of their perceptual salience. AB have emerged in different flavours depending on the experimental approach, and their clinical relevance is still debated. In chronic smokers we sought evidence for dissociable attention abnormalities that may play distinct roles in the clinical manifestations of the disorder. Fifty smokers performed a modified visual probe-task measuring two forms of AB and their temporal dynamics, and data on their personality traits and smoking history/status were collected. Two fully dissociable AB effects were found: A Global effect, reflecting the overall impact of smoke cues on attention, and a Location-specific effect, indexing the impact of smoke cues on visuospatial orienting. Importantly, the two effects could be neatly separated from one another as they: (i) unfolded with dissimilar temporal dynamics, (ii) were accounted for by different sets of predictors associated with personality traits and smoking history and (iii) were not correlated with one another. Importantly, the relevance of each of these two components in the single individual depends on a complex blend of personality traits and smoking habits, a result that future efforts addressing the clinical relevance of addiction-related AB should take into careful consideration.
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12
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Sani I, McPherson BC, Stemmann H, Pestilli F, Freiwald WA. Functionally defined white matter of the macaque monkey brain reveals a dorso-ventral attention network. eLife 2019; 8:e40520. [PMID: 30601116 PMCID: PMC6345568 DOI: 10.7554/elife.40520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Classical studies of attention have identified areas of parietal and frontal cortex as sources of attentional control. Recently, a ventral region in the macaque temporal cortex, the posterior infero-temporal dorsal area PITd, has been suggested as a third attentional control area. This raises the question of whether and how spatially distant areas coordinate a joint focus of attention. Here we tested the hypothesis that parieto-frontal attention areas and PITd are directly interconnected. By combining functional MRI with ex-vivo high-resolution diffusion MRI, we found that PITd and dorsal attention areas are all directly connected through three specific fascicles. These results ascribe a new function, the communication of attention signals, to two known fiber-bundles, highlight the importance of vertical interactions across the two visual streams, and imply that the control of endogenous attention, hitherto thought to reside in macaque dorsal cortical areas, is exerted by a dorso-ventral network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Sani
- Laboratory of Neural SystemsThe Rockefeller UniversityNew YorkUnited States
| | - Brent C McPherson
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesIndiana UniversityBloomingtonUnited States
| | - Heiko Stemmann
- Institute for Brain Research and Center for Advanced ImagingUniversity of BremenBremenGermany
| | - Franco Pestilli
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesIndiana UniversityBloomingtonUnited States
| | - Winrich A Freiwald
- Laboratory of Neural SystemsThe Rockefeller UniversityNew YorkUnited States
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13
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Sanz LRD, Vuilleumier P, Bourgeois A. Cross-modal integration during value-driven attentional capture. Neuropsychologia 2018; 120:105-112. [PMID: 30342964 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Revised: 09/06/2018] [Accepted: 10/15/2018] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that reward may be a powerful determinant of attentional selection. To date, the study of value-based attentional capture has been mainly focused on the visual sensory modality. It is yet unknown how reward information is communicated and integrated across the different senses in order to resolve between competing choices during selective attention. Our study investigated the interference produced by an auditory reward-associated distractor when a semantically-related visual target was concurrently presented. We measured both manual and saccadic response times towards a target image (drum or trumpet), while an irrelevant sound (congruent or incongruent instrument) was heard. Each sound was previously associated with either a high or a low reward. We found that manual responses were slowed by a high-reward auditory distractor when sound and image were semantically congruent. A similar effect was observed for saccadic responses, but only for participants aware of the past reward contingencies. Auditory events associated with reward value were thus capable of involuntarily capturing attention in the visual modality. This reward effect can mitigate cross-modal semantic integration and appears to be differentially modulated by awareness for saccadic vs. manual responses. Together, our results extend previous work on value-driven attentional biases in perception by showing that these may operate across sensory modalities and override cross-modal integration for semantically-related stimuli. This study sheds new light on the potential implication of brain regions underlying value-driven attention across sensory modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leandro R D Sanz
- Neuroscience Department, Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Coma Science Group, GIGA Consciousness, University and University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Neuroscience Department, Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Alexia Bourgeois
- Neuroscience Department, Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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14
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Castro L, Wasserman EA. Feature predictiveness and selective attention in pigeons' categorization learning. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL LEARNING AND COGNITION 2018; 43:231-242. [PMID: 29120213 DOI: 10.1037/xan0000146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Prior categorization studies have shown that pigeons reliably track features that are perfect predictors of category membership (Castro & Wasserman, 2014, 2016a). One might further ask whether pigeons would also track features that are relevant, but imperfect predictors of category membership. In our present project, pigeons had to categorize multiple exemplars from 2 different artificial categories, in which the exemplars were composed of 4 different features that were associated with 1 of 2 different report responses. Each exemplar contained 1 feature that perfectly predicted category membership; 1 feature that imperfectly predicted category membership; and, 2 irrelevant features that did not predict category membership. We monitored pigeons' choice accuracy as well as the location of their pecks to each of the 4 exemplar features to determine to which attributes the birds attended. As categorization accuracy rose, pecks to the perfect predictor of each category rose as well. Pigeons also showed evidence of attending more to the imperfect predictor than to the irrelevant features, but to a lesser degree. Overall, our results provide evidence of selective attention in pigeons' categorization behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- Leyre Castro
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa
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15
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Towards building a more complex view of the lateral geniculate nucleus: Recent advances in understanding its role. Prog Neurobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2017.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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16
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Visual Working Memory Enhances the Neural Response to Matching Visual Input. J Neurosci 2017; 37:6638-6647. [PMID: 28592696 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3418-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2016] [Revised: 04/27/2017] [Accepted: 05/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual working memory (VWM) is used to maintain visual information available for subsequent goal-directed behavior. The content of VWM has been shown to affect the behavioral response to concurrent visual input, suggesting that visual representations originating from VWM and from sensory input draw upon a shared neural substrate (i.e., a sensory recruitment stance on VWM storage). Here, we hypothesized that visual information maintained in VWM would enhance the neural response to concurrent visual input that matches the content of VWM. To test this hypothesis, we measured fMRI BOLD responses to task-irrelevant stimuli acquired from 15 human participants (three males) performing a concurrent delayed match-to-sample task. In this task, observers were sequentially presented with two shape stimuli and a retro-cue indicating which of the two shapes should be memorized for subsequent recognition. During the retention interval, a task-irrelevant shape (the probe) was briefly presented in the peripheral visual field, which could either match or mismatch the shape category of the memorized stimulus. We show that this probe stimulus elicited a stronger BOLD response, and allowed for increased shape-classification performance, when it matched rather than mismatched the concurrently memorized content, despite identical visual stimulation. Our results demonstrate that VWM enhances the neural response to concurrent visual input in a content-specific way. This finding is consistent with the view that neural populations involved in sensory processing are recruited for VWM storage, and it provides a common explanation for a plethora of behavioral studies in which VWM-matching visual input elicits a stronger behavioral and perceptual response.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans heavily rely on visual information to interact with their environment and frequently must memorize such information for later use. Visual working memory allows for maintaining such visual information in the mind's eye after termination of its retinal input. It is hypothesized that information maintained in visual working memory relies on the same neural populations that process visual input. Accordingly, the content of visual working memory is known to affect our conscious perception of concurrent visual input. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that visual input elicits an enhanced neural response when it matches the content of visual working memory, both in terms of signal strength and information content.
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Sani I, Santandrea E, Morrone MC, Chelazzi L. Temporally evolving gain mechanisms of attention in macaque area V4. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:964-985. [PMID: 28468996 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00522.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Revised: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 05/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive attention and perceptual saliency jointly govern our interaction with the environment. Yet, we still lack a universally accepted account of the interplay between attention and luminance contrast, a fundamental dimension of saliency. We measured the attentional modulation of V4 neurons' contrast response functions (CRFs) in awake, behaving macaque monkeys and applied a new approach that emphasizes the temporal dynamics of cell responses. We found that attention modulates CRFs via different gain mechanisms during subsequent epochs of visually driven activity: an early contrast-gain, strongly dependent on prestimulus activity changes (baseline shift); a time-limited stimulus-dependent multiplicative modulation, reaching its maximal expression around 150 ms after stimulus onset; and a late resurgence of contrast-gain modulation. Attention produced comparable time-dependent attentional gain changes on cells heterogeneously coding contrast, supporting the notion that the same circuits mediate attention mechanisms in V4 regardless of the form of contrast selectivity expressed by the given neuron. Surprisingly, attention was also sometimes capable of inducing radical transformations in the shape of CRFs. These findings offer important insights into the mechanisms that underlie contrast coding and attention in primate visual cortex and a new perspective on their interplay, one in which time becomes a fundamental factor.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We offer an innovative perspective on the interplay between attention and luminance contrast in macaque area V4, one in which time becomes a fundamental factor. We place emphasis on the temporal dynamics of attentional effects, pioneering the notion that attention modulates contrast response functions of V4 neurons via the sequential engagement of distinct gain mechanisms. These findings advance understanding of attentional influences on visual processing and help reconcile divergent results in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Sani
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy.,The Rockefeller University, New York, New York
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Maria Concetta Morrone
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Italy.,Stella Maris Foundation, Pisa, Italy; and
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy; .,National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy
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Wang H, Ip C, Fu S, Sun P. Different underlying mechanisms for face emotion and gender processing during feature-selective attention: Evidence from event-related potential studies. Neuropsychologia 2017; 99:306-313. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.03.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2016] [Revised: 03/08/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Frank DW, Sabatinelli D. Primate Visual Perception: Motivated Attention in Naturalistic Scenes. Front Psychol 2017; 8:226. [PMID: 28265250 PMCID: PMC5316551 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Research has consistently revealed enhanced neural activation corresponding to attended cues coupled with suppression to unattended cues. This attention effect depends both on the spatial features of stimuli and internal task goals. However, a large majority of research supporting this effect involves circumscribed tasks that possess few ecologically relevant characteristics. By comparison, natural scenes have the potential to engage an evolved attention system, which may be characterized by supplemental neural processing and integration compared to mechanisms engaged during reduced experimental paradigms. Here, we describe recent animal and human studies of naturalistic scene viewing to highlight the specific impact of social and affective processes on the neural mechanisms of attention modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W Frank
- Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center, Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences CenterOklahoma City, OK, USA; BioImaging Research Center, University of GeorgiaAthens, GA, USA; Division of Neuroscience, University of GeorgiaAthens, GA, USA
| | - Dean Sabatinelli
- BioImaging Research Center, University of GeorgiaAthens, GA, USA; Division of Neuroscience, University of GeorgiaAthens, GA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of GeorgiaAthens, GA, USA
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Simione L, Nolfi S. The Emergence of Selective Attention through Probabilistic Associations between Stimuli and Actions. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0166174. [PMID: 27846301 PMCID: PMC5112963 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2016] [Accepted: 10/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper we show how a multilayer neural network trained to master a context-dependent task in which the action co-varies with a certain stimulus in a first context and with a second stimulus in an alternative context exhibits selective attention, i.e. filtering out of irrelevant information. This effect is rather robust and it is observed in several variations of the experiment in which the characteristics of the network as well as of the training procedure have been varied. Our result demonstrates how the filtering out of irrelevant information can originate spontaneously as a consequence of the regularities present in context-dependent training set and therefore does not necessarily depend on specific architectural constraints. The post-evaluation of the network in an instructed-delay experimental scenario shows how the behaviour of the network is consistent with the data collected in neuropsychological studies. The analysis of the network at the end of the training process indicates how selective attention originates as a result of the effects caused by relevant and irrelevant stimuli mediated by context-dependent and context-independent bidirectional associations between stimuli and actions that are extracted by the network during the learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Simione
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Stefano Nolfi
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy
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Eštočinová J, Lo Gerfo E, Della Libera C, Chelazzi L, Santandrea E. Augmenting distractor filtering via transcranial magnetic stimulation of the lateral occipital cortex. Cortex 2016; 84:63-79. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2016] [Revised: 07/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
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Myers NE, Rohenkohl G, Wyart V, Woolrich MW, Nobre AC, Stokes MG. Testing sensory evidence against mnemonic templates. eLife 2015; 4:e09000. [PMID: 26653854 PMCID: PMC4755744 DOI: 10.7554/elife.09000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2015] [Accepted: 12/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Most perceptual decisions require comparisons between current input and an internal template. Classic studies propose that templates are encoded in sustained activity of sensory neurons. However, stimulus encoding is itself dynamic, tracing a complex trajectory through activity space. Which part of this trajectory is pre-activated to reflect the template? Here we recorded magneto- and electroencephalography during a visual target-detection task, and used pattern analyses to decode template, stimulus, and decision-variable representation. Our findings ran counter to the dominant model of sustained pre-activation. Instead, template information emerged transiently around stimulus onset and quickly subsided. Cross-generalization between stimulus and template coding, indicating a shared neural representation, occurred only briefly. Our results are compatible with the proposal that template representation relies on a matched filter, transforming input into task-appropriate output. This proposal was consistent with a signed difference response at the perceptual decision stage, which can be explained by a simple neural model. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09000.001 Imagine searching for your house keys on a cluttered desk. Your eyes scan different items until they eventually find the keys you are looking for. How the brain represents an internal template of the target of your search (the keys, in this example) has been a much-debated topic in neuroscience for the past 30 years. Previous research has indicated that neurons specialized for detecting the sought-after object when it is in view are also pre-activated when we are seeking it. This would mean that these ‘template’ neurons are active the entire time that we are searching. Myers et al. recorded brain activity from human volunteers using a non-invasive technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG) as they tried to detect when a particular shape appeared on a computer screen. The patterns of brain activity could be analyzed to identify the template that observers had in mind, and to trace when it became active. This revealed that the template was only activated around the time when a target was likely to appear, after which the activation pattern quickly subsided again. Myers et al. also found that holding a template in mind largely activated different groups of neurons to those activated when seeing the same shape appear on a computer screen. This is contrary to the idea that the same cells are responsible both for maintaining a template and for perceiving its presence in our surroundings. The brief activation of the template suggests that templates may come online mainly to filter new sensory evidence to detect targets. This mechanism could be advantageous because it lowers the amount of neural activity (and hence energy) needed for the task. Although this points to a more efficient way in which the brain searches for targets, these findings need to be replicated using other methods and task settings to confirm whether the brain generally uses templates in this way. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09000.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas E Myers
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Valentin Wyart
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
| | - Mark W Woolrich
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Anna C Nobre
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Mark G Stokes
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Konijnenberg C, Melinder A. Visual selective attention is impaired in children prenatally exposed to opioid agonist medication. Eur Addict Res 2015; 21:63-70. [PMID: 25402596 DOI: 10.1159/000366018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2014] [Accepted: 07/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
AIMS To examine whether prenatal exposure to opioid agonist medication is associated with visual selective attention and general attention problems in early childhood. METHOD Twenty-two children (mean age = 52.17 months, SD = 1.81) prenatally exposed to methadone, 9 children (mean age = 52.41 months, SD = 1.42) prenatally exposed to buprenorphine and 25 nonexposed comparison children (mean age = 51.44 months, SD = 1.31) were tested. Visual selective attention was measured with a Tobii 1750 Eye Tracker using a spatial negative priming paradigm. Attention problems were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS The comparison group demonstrated a larger spatial negative priming effect (mean = 23.50, SD = 45.50) than the exposed group [mean = -6.84, SD = 86.39, F(1,50) = 5.91, p = 0.019, η(2) = 0.11]. No difference in reported attention problems was found [F(1,51) = 1.63, p = 0.21, η(2) = 0.03]. Neonatal abstinence syndrome and prenatal exposure to marijuana were found to predict slower saccade latencies in the exposed group (b = 54.55, SE = 23.56, p = 0.03 and b = 88.86, SE = 32.07, p = 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION Although exposed children did not appear to have attention deficits in daily life, lower performance on the SNP task indicates subtle alteration in the attention system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolien Konijnenberg
- The Cognitive Developmental Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Abstract
Spatial priority maps are real-time representations of the behavioral salience of locations in the visual field, resulting from the combined influence of stimulus driven activity and top-down signals related to the current goals of the individual. They arbitrate which of a number of (potential) targets in the visual scene will win the competition for attentional resources. As a result, deployment of visual attention to a specific spatial location is determined by the current peak of activation (corresponding to the highest behavioral salience) across the map. Here we report a behavioral study performed on healthy human volunteers, where we demonstrate that spatial priority maps can be shaped via reward-based learning, reflecting long-lasting alterations (biases) in the behavioral salience of specific spatial locations. These biases exert an especially strong influence on performance under conditions where multiple potential targets compete for selection, conferring competitive advantage to targets presented in spatial locations associated with greater reward during learning relative to targets presented in locations associated with lesser reward. Such acquired biases of spatial attention are persistent, are nonstrategic in nature, and generalize across stimuli and task contexts. These results suggest that reward-based attentional learning can induce plastic changes in spatial priority maps, endowing these representations with the "intelligent" capacity to learn from experience.
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