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Hüer J, Saxena P, Treue S. Pathway-selective optogenetics reveals the functional anatomy of top-down attentional modulation in the macaque visual cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2304511121. [PMID: 38194453 PMCID: PMC10801865 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2304511121] [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: 03/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Spatial attention represents a powerful top-down influence on sensory responses in primate visual cortical areas. The frontal eye field (FEF) has emerged as a key candidate area for the source of this modulation. However, it is unclear whether the FEF exerts its effects via its direct axonal projections to visual areas or indirectly through other brain areas and whether the FEF affects both the enhancement of attended and the suppression of unattended sensory responses. We used pathway-selective optogenetics in rhesus macaques performing a spatial attention task to inhibit the direct input from the FEF to area MT, an area along the dorsal visual pathway specialized for the processing of visual motion information. Our results show that the optogenetic inhibition of the FEF input specifically reduces attentional modulation in MT by about a third without affecting the neurons' sensory response component. We find that the direct FEF-to-MT pathway contributes to both the enhanced processing of target stimuli and the suppression of distractors. The FEF, thus, selectively modulates firing rates in visual area MT, and it does so via its direct axonal projections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janina Hüer
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt60528, Germany
| | - Pankhuri Saxena
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Faculty of Biology and Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen37073, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen37077, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Göttingen37073, Germany
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2
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Yoo SA, Martinez-Trujillo JC, Treue S, Tsotsos JK, Fallah M. Attention to visual motion suppresses neuronal and behavioral sensitivity in nearby feature space. BMC Biol 2022; 20:220. [PMID: 36199136 PMCID: PMC9535987 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01428-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Feature-based attention prioritizes the processing of the attended feature while strongly suppressing the processing of nearby ones. This creates a non-linearity or “attentional suppressive surround” predicted by the Selective Tuning model of visual attention. However, previously reported effects of feature-based attention on neuronal responses are linear, e.g., feature-similarity gain. Here, we investigated this apparent contradiction by neurophysiological and psychophysical approaches. Results Responses of motion direction-selective neurons in area MT/MST of monkeys were recorded during a motion task. When attention was allocated to a stimulus moving in the neurons’ preferred direction, response tuning curves showed its minimum for directions 60–90° away from the preferred direction, an attentional suppressive surround. This effect was modeled via the interaction of two Gaussian fields representing excitatory narrowly tuned and inhibitory widely tuned inputs into a neuron, with feature-based attention predominantly increasing the gain of inhibitory inputs. We further showed using a motion repulsion paradigm in humans that feature-based attention produces a similar non-linearity on motion discrimination performance. Conclusions Our results link the gain modulation of neuronal inputs and tuning curves examined through the feature-similarity gain lens to the attentional impact on neural population responses predicted by the Selective Tuning model, providing a unified framework for the documented effects of feature-based attention on neuronal responses and behavior. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-022-01428-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sang-Ah Yoo
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. .,Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. .,Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.
| | - Julio C Martinez-Trujillo
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada. .,Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada.
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Centre - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.,Faculty for Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, 37073, Goettingen, Germany.,Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.,Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - John K Tsotsos
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,Vision: Science to Application, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,Center for Innovation and Computing at Lassonde, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Mazyar Fallah
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,Vision: Science to Application, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.,Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
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3
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Krieber-Tomantschger M, Pokorny FB, Krieber-Tomantschger I, Langmann L, Poustka L, Zhang D, Treue S, Tanzer NK, Einspieler C, Marschik PB, Körner C. The development of visual attention in early infancy: Insights from a free-viewing paradigm. INFANCY 2022; 27:433-458. [PMID: 34981647 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Revised: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Theories of visual attention suggest a cascading development of subfunctions such as alertness, spatial orientation, attention to object features, and endogenous control. Here, we aimed to track infants' visual developmental steps from a primarily exogenously to more endogenously controlled processing style during their first months of life. In this repeated measures study, 51 infants participated in seven fortnightly assessments at postterm ages of 4-16 weeks. Infants were presented with the same set of static and dynamic paired comparison stimuli in each assessment. Visual behavior was evaluated by a newly introduced scoring scheme. Our results confirmed the suggested visual developmental hierarchy and clearly demonstrated the suitability of our scoring scheme for documenting developmental changes in visual attention during early infancy. Besides the general ontogenetic course of development, we also discuss intra- and interindividual differences which may affect single assessments, and highlight the importance of repeated measurements for reliable evaluation of developmental changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena Krieber-Tomantschger
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Florian B Pokorny
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Iris Krieber-Tomantschger
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Laura Langmann
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Luise Poustka
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg-August University Goettingen, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Dajie Zhang
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg-August University Goettingen, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen, Germany
- Faculty for Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
| | | | - Christa Einspieler
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Peter B Marschik
- Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Georg-August University Goettingen, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Christof Körner
- Cognitive Psychology & Neuroscience, Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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4
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Wild B, Treue S. Primate extrastriate cortical area MST: a gateway between sensation and cognition. J Neurophysiol 2021; 125:1851-1882. [PMID: 33656951 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00384.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Primate visual cortex consists of dozens of distinct brain areas, each providing a highly specialized component to the sophisticated task of encoding the incoming sensory information and creating a representation of our visual environment that underlies our perception and action. One such area is the medial superior temporal cortex (MST), a motion-sensitive, direction-selective part of the primate visual cortex. It receives most of its input from the middle temporal (MT) area, but MST cells have larger receptive fields and respond to more complex motion patterns. The finding that MST cells are tuned for optic flow patterns has led to the suggestion that the area plays an important role in the perception of self-motion. This hypothesis has received further support from studies showing that some MST cells also respond selectively to vestibular cues. Furthermore, the area is part of a network that controls the planning and execution of smooth pursuit eye movements and its activity is modulated by cognitive factors, such as attention and working memory. This review of more than 90 studies focuses on providing clarity of the heterogeneous findings on MST in the macaque cortex and its putative homolog in the human cortex. From this analysis of the unique anatomical and functional position in the hierarchy of areas and processing steps in primate visual cortex, MST emerges as a gateway between perception, cognition, and action planning. Given this pivotal role, this area represents an ideal model system for the transition from sensation to cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedict Wild
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Goettingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB), University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Faculty of Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.,Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany.,Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen, Germany
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5
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Crayen MA, Yurt P, Treue S, Esghaei M. Commentary: The causal role of α-oscillations in feature binding. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:753. [PMID: 32973423 PMCID: PMC7466719 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Max A Crayen
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany.,International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Pinar Yurt
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Moein Esghaei
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany.,Royan Institute for Steam Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
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6
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Attention amplifies neural representations of changes in sensory input at the expense of perceptual accuracy. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2128. [PMID: 32358494 PMCID: PMC7195455 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15989-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Attention enhances the neural representations of behaviorally relevant stimuli, typically by a push-pull increase of the neuronal response gain to attended vs. unattended stimuli. This selectively improves perception and consequently behavioral performance. However, to enhance the detectability of stimulus changes, attention might also distort neural representations, compromising accurate stimulus representation. We test this hypothesis by recording neural responses in the visual cortex of rhesus monkeys during a motion direction change detection task. We find that attention indeed amplifies the neural representation of direction changes, beyond a similar effect of adaptation. We further show that humans overestimate such direction changes, providing a perceptual correlate of our neurophysiological observations. Our results demonstrate that attention distorts the neural representations of abrupt sensory changes and consequently perceptual accuracy. This likely represents an evolutionary adaptive mechanism that allows sensory systems to flexibly forgo accurate representation of stimulus features to improve the encoding of stimulus change.
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Kozyrev V, Daliri MR, Schwedhelm P, Treue S. Strategic deployment of feature-based attentional gain in primate visual cortex. PLoS Biol 2019; 17:e3000387. [PMID: 31386656 PMCID: PMC6684042 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Attending to visual stimuli enhances the gain of those neurons in primate visual cortex that preferentially respond to the matching locations and features (on-target gain). Although this is well suited to enhance the neuronal representation of attended stimuli, it is nonoptimal under difficult discrimination conditions, as in the presence of similar distractors. In such cases, directing attention to neighboring neuronal populations (off-target gain) has been shown to be the most efficient strategy, but although such a strategic deployment of attention has been shown behaviorally, its underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. Here, we investigated how attention affects the population responses of neurons in the middle temporal (MT) visual area of rhesus monkeys to bidirectional movement inside the neurons' receptive field (RF). The monkeys were trained to focus their attention onto the fixation spot or to detect a direction or speed change in one of the motion directions (the "target"), ignoring the distractor motion. Population activity profiles were determined by systematically varying the patterns' directions while maintaining a constant angle between them. As expected, the response profiles show a peak for each of the 2 motion directions. Switching spatial attention from the fixation spot into the RF enhanced the peak representing the attended stimulus and suppressed the distractor representation. Importantly, the population data show a direction-dependent attentional modulation that does not peak at the target feature but rather along the slopes of the activity profile representing the target direction. Our results show that attentional gains are strategically deployed to optimize the discriminability of target stimuli, in line with an optimal gain mechanism proposed by Navalpakkam and Itti.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vladislav Kozyrev
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen, Germany.,Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience and Imaging in Psychiatry (SNIP), University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany.,Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany
| | - Mohammad Reza Daliri
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen, Germany.,Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Lab., Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran.,Cognitive Neurobiology Lab., School of Cognitive Sciences (SCS), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Niavaran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Philipp Schwedhelm
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Center for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy.,Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), Switzerland.,Functional Imaging Laboratory, German Primate Center-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen, Germany.,Leibniz ScienceCampus PrimateCognition, Goettingen, Germany.,Faculty of Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Germany
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8
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Duong L, Leavitt M, Pieper F, Sachs A, Martinez-Trujillo J. A Normalization Circuit Underlying Coding of Spatial Attention in Primate Lateral Prefrontal Cortex. eNeuro 2019; 6:ENEURO.0301-18.2019. [PMID: 31001577 PMCID: PMC6469883 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0301-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 02/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) neurons signal the allocation of voluntary attention; however, the neural computations underlying this function remain unknown. To investigate this, we recorded from neuronal ensembles in the LPFC of two Macaca fascicularis performing a visuospatial attention task. LPFC neural responses to a single stimulus were normalized when additional stimuli/distracters appeared across the visual field and were well-characterized by an averaging computation. Deploying attention toward an individual stimulus surrounded by distracters shifted neural activity from an averaging regime toward a regime similar to that when the attended stimulus was presented in isolation (winner-take-all; WTA). However, attentional modulation is both qualitatively and quantitatively dependent on a neuron's visuospatial tuning. Our results show that during attentive vision, LPFC neuronal ensemble activity can be robustly read out by downstream areas to generate motor commands, and/or fed back into sensory areas to filter out distracter signals in favor of target signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lyndon Duong
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Matthew Leavitt
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
- Department of Physiology, McGill University, Quebec H3A 0G4, Canada Montreal
| | - Florian Pieper
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg 52 20246, Germany
| | - Adam Sachs
- The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada
| | - Julio Martinez-Trujillo
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada
- Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
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9
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Knudsen EI. Neural Circuits That Mediate Selective Attention: A Comparative Perspective. Trends Neurosci 2018; 41:789-805. [PMID: 30075867 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Revised: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 06/14/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Selective attention is central to cognition. Dramatic advances have been made in understanding the neural circuits that mediate selective attention. Forebrain networks, most elaborated in primates, control all forms of attention based on task demands and the physical salience of stimuli. These networks contain circuits that distribute top-down signals to sensory processing areas and enhance information processing in those areas. A midbrain network, most elaborated in birds, controls spatial attention. It contains circuits that continuously compute the highest priority stimulus location and route sensory information from the selected location to forebrain networks that make cognitive decisions. The identification of these circuits, their functions and mechanisms represent a major advance in our understanding of how the vertebrate brain mediates selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric I Knudsen
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5125, USA.
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