1
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Aboutorabi E, Baloni Ray S, Kaping D, Shahbazi F, Treue S, Esghaei M. Phase of neural oscillations as a reference frame for attention-based routing in visual cortex. Prog Neurobiol 2024; 233:102563. [PMID: 38142770 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
Selective attention allows the brain to efficiently process the image projected onto the retina, selectively focusing neural processing resources on behaviorally relevant visual information. While previous studies have documented the crucial role of the action potential rate of single neurons in relaying such information, little is known about how the activity of single neurons relative to their neighboring network contributes to the efficient representation of attended stimuli and transmission of this information to downstream areas. Here, we show in the dorsal visual pathway of monkeys (medial superior temporal area) that neurons fire spikes preferentially at a specific phase of the ongoing population beta (∼20 Hz) oscillations of the surrounding local network. This preferred spiking phase shifts towards a later phase when monkeys selectively attend towards (rather than away from) the receptive field of the neuron. This shift of the locking phase is positively correlated with the speed at which animals report a visual change. Furthermore, our computational modeling suggests that neural networks can manipulate the preferred phase of coupling by imposing differential synaptic delays on postsynaptic potentials. This distinction between the locking phase of neurons activated by the spatially attended stimulus vs. that of neurons activated by the unattended stimulus, may enable the neural system to discriminate relevant from irrelevant sensory inputs and consequently filter out distracting stimuli information by aligning the spikes which convey relevant/irrelevant information to distinct phases linked to periods of better/worse perceptual sensitivity for higher cortices. This strategy may be used to reserve the narrow windows of highest perceptual efficacy to the processing of the most behaviorally relevant information, ensuring highly efficient responses to attended sensory events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Aboutorabi
- Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sonia Baloni Ray
- Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi, India
| | - Daniel Kaping
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Farhad Shahbazi
- Department of Physics, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany; Faculty for Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Moein Esghaei
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany; Westa Higher Education Center, Karaj, Iran.
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2
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Witkowski PP, Geng JJ. Attentional priority is determined by predicted feature distributions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2022; 48:1201-1212. [PMID: 36048065 PMCID: PMC10249461 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Visual attention is often characterized as being guided by precise memories for target objects. However, real-world search targets have dynamic features that vary over time, meaning that observers must predict how the target could look based on how features are expected to change. Despite its importance, little is known about how target feature predictions influence feature-based attention, or how these predictions are represented in the target template. In Experiment 1 (N = 60 university students), we show observers readily track the statistics of target features over time and adapt attentional priority to predictions about the distribution of target features. In Experiments 2a and 2b (N = 480 university students), we show that these predictions are encoded into the target template as a distribution of likelihoods over possible target features, which are independent of memory precision for the cued item. These results provide a novel demonstration of how observers represent predicted feature distributions when target features are uncertain and show that these predictions are used to set attentional priority during visual search. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Phillip P. Witkowski
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
- Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
| | - Joy J. Geng
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
- Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
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3
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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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4
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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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5
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Abdolrahmani M, Lyamzin DR, Aoki R, Benucci A. Attention separates sensory and motor signals in the mouse visual cortex. Cell Rep 2021; 36:109377. [PMID: 34260937 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Visually guided behaviors depend on the activity of cortical networks receiving visual inputs and transforming these signals to guide appropriate actions. However, non-retinal inputs, carrying motor signals as well as cognitive and attentional modulatory signals, also activate these cortical regions. How these networks integrate coincident signals ensuring reliable visual behaviors is poorly understood. In this study, we observe neural responses in the dorsal-parietal cortex of mice during a visual discrimination task driven by visual stimuli and movements. We find that visual and motor signals interact according to two mechanisms: divisive normalization and separation of responses. Interactions are contextually modulated by the animal's state of sustained attention, which amplifies visual and motor signals and increases their discriminability in a low-dimensional space of neural activations. These findings reveal computational principles operating in dorsal-parietal networks that enable separation of incoming signals for reliable visually guided behaviors during interactions with the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dmitry R Lyamzin
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Ryo Aoki
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Andrea Benucci
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako-shi, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Mathematical Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo City, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
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6
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Veith VK, Quigley C, Treue S. Cholinergic manipulations affect sensory responses but not attentional enhancement in macaque MT. BMC Biol 2021; 19:49. [PMID: 33726757 PMCID: PMC7967954 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-00993-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Attentional modulation in the visual cortex of primates is characterized by multiplicative changes of sensory responses with changes in the attentional state of the animal. The cholinergic system has been linked to such gain changes in V1. Here, we aim to determine if a similar link exists in macaque area MT. While rhesus monkeys performed a top-down spatial attention task, we locally injected a cholinergic agonist or antagonist and recorded single-cell activity. RESULTS Although we confirmed cholinergic influences on sensory responses, there was no additional cholinergic effect on the attentional gain changes. Neither a muscarinic blockage nor a local increase in acetylcholine led to a significant change in the magnitude of spatial attention effects on firing rates. CONCLUSIONS This suggests that the cellular mechanisms of attentional modulation in the extrastriate cortex cannot be directly inferred from those in the primary visual cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera Katharina Veith
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Cliodhna Quigley
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany.,Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Goettingen, Germany. .,Faculty for Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany. .,Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany.
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7
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Parto Dezfouli M, Schwedhelm P, Wibral M, Treue S, Daliri MR, Esghaei M. A neural correlate of visual feature binding in primate lateral prefrontal cortex. Neuroimage 2021; 229:117757. [PMID: 33460801 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2020] [Revised: 12/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
We effortlessly perceive visual objects as unified entities, despite the preferential encoding of their various visual features in separate cortical areas. A 'binding' process is assumed to be required for creating this unified percept, but the underlying neural mechanism and specific brain areas are poorly understood. We investigated 'feature-binding' across two feature dimensions, using a novel stimulus configuration, designed to disambiguate whether a given combination of color and motion direction is perceived as bound or unbound. In the "bound" condition, two behaviorally relevant features (color and motion) belong to the same object, while in the "unbound" condition they belong to different objects. We recorded local field potentials from the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) in macaque monkeys that actively monitored the different stimulus configurations. Our data show a neural representation of visual feature binding especially in the 4-12 Hz frequency band and a transmission of binding information between different lPFC neural subpopulations. This information is linked to the animal's reaction time, suggesting a behavioral relevance of the binding information. Together, our results document the involvement of the prefrontal cortex, targeted by the dorsal and ventral visual streams, in binding visual features from different dimensions, in a process that includes a dynamic modulation of low frequency inter-regional communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Parto Dezfouli
- Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology (IUST), 16846-13114 Narmak, Tehran, Iran; School of Cognitive Sciences (SCS), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran; Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Philipp Schwedhelm
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany; Functional Imaging Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Michael Wibral
- Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Kellnerweg 7, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Am Fassberg 17, 37077, Goettingen, Germany; Faculty of Biology and Psychology, University of Goettingen, Wilhelm-Weber-Str. 2, 37073 Goettingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Mohammad Reza Daliri
- Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology (IUST), 16846-13114 Narmak, Tehran, Iran; School of Cognitive Sciences (SCS), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran.
| | - Moein Esghaei
- School of Cognitive Sciences (SCS), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran; Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Goettingen, Germany.
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8
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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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9
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Wilson VAD, Kade C, Moeller S, Treue S, Kagan I, Fischer J. Macaque Gaze Responses to the Primatar: A Virtual Macaque Head for Social Cognition Research. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1645. [PMID: 32765373 PMCID: PMC7379899 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Following the expanding use and applications of virtual reality in everyday life, realistic virtual stimuli are of increasing interest in cognitive studies. They allow for control of features such as gaze, expression, appearance, and movement, which may help to overcome limitations of using photographs or video recordings to study social responses. In using virtual stimuli however, one must be careful to avoid the uncanny valley effect, where realistic stimuli can be perceived as eerie, and induce an aversion response. At the same time, it is important to establish whether responses to virtual stimuli mirror responses to depictions of a real conspecific. In the current study, we describe the development of a new virtual monkey head with realistic facial features for experiments with nonhuman primates, the "Primatar." As a first step toward validation, we assessed how monkeys respond to facial images of a prototype of this Primatar compared to images of real monkeys (RMs), and an unrealistic model. We also compared gaze responses between original images and scrambled as well as obfuscated versions of these images. We measured looking time to images in six freely moving long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and gaze exploration behavior in three rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Both groups showed more signs of overt attention to original images than scrambled or obfuscated images. In addition, we found no evidence for an uncanny valley effect; since for both groups, looking times did not differ between real, realistic, or unrealistic images. These results provide important data for further development of our Primatar for use in social cognition studies and more generally for cognitive research with virtual stimuli in nonhuman primates. Future research on the absence of an uncanny valley effect in macaques is needed, to elucidate the roots of this mechanism in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa A. D. Wilson
- Department of Primate Cognition, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Carolin Kade
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sebastian Moeller
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
- Georg-Elias-Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Treue
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
- Georg-Elias-Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Igor Kagan
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Julia Fischer
- Department of Primate Cognition, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
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10
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Histological assessment of optogenetic tools to study fronto-visual and fronto-parietal cortical networks in the rhesus macaque. Sci Rep 2020; 10:11051. [PMID: 32632196 PMCID: PMC7338380 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67752-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Optogenetics offers unprecedented possibilities to investigate cortical networks. Yet, the number of successful optogenetic applications in non-human primates is still low, and the consequences of opsin expression in the primate brain are not well documented. We assessed histologically if we can target cerebrocortical networks with three common optogenetic constructs (AAV2/5-CaMKIIα-eNpHR3.0-mCherry, -ChR2-eYFP, -C1V1-mCherry). The frontal eye field or the dorsal premotor area of rhesus macaques were virally injected, and the resulting transduction spread, expression specificity, and opsin trafficking into axons projecting to parietal and visual areas were examined. After variable periods (2–24 months), expression was robust for all constructs at the injection sites. The CaMKIIα promoter driven-expression was predominant, but not exclusive, in excitatory neurons. In the case of eNpHR3.0-mCherry and ChR2-eYFP, opsins were present in axonal projections to target areas, in which sparse, retrogradely transduced neurons could also be found. Finally, the intracellular distribution of opsins differed: ChR2-eYFP had almost exclusive membrane localization, while eNpHR3.0-mCherry and C1V1-mCherry showed additional intracellular accumulations, which might affect neuronal survival in the long-term. Results indicate that all three constructs can be used for local neuronal modulation, but axonal stimulation and long-term use require additional considerations of construct selection and verification.
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11
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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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12
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The lateral prefrontal cortex of primates encodes stimulus colors and their behavioral relevance during a match-to-sample task. Sci Rep 2020; 10:4216. [PMID: 32144331 PMCID: PMC7060344 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61171-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The lateral prefrontal cortex of primates (lPFC) plays a central role in complex cognitive behavior, in decision-making as well as in guiding top-down attention. However, how and where in lPFC such behaviorally relevant signals are computed is poorly understood. We analyzed neural recordings from chronic microelectrode arrays implanted in lPFC region 8Av/45 of two rhesus macaques. The animals performed a feature match-to-sample task requiring them to match both motion and color information in a test stimulus. This task allowed to separate the encoding of stimulus motion and color from their current behavioral relevance on a trial-by-trial basis. We found that upcoming motor behavior can be robustly predicted from lPFC activity. In addition, we show that 8Av/45 encodes the color of a visual stimulus, regardless of its behavioral relevance. Most notably, whether a color matches the searched-for color can be decoded independent of a trial's motor outcome and while subjects detect unique feature conjunctions of color and motion. Thus, macaque area 8Av/45 computes, among other task-relevant information, the behavioral relevance of visual color features. Such a signal is most critical for both the selection of responses as well as the deployment of top-down modulatory signals, like feature-based attention.
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