Attention Increases Spike Count Correlations between Visual Cortical Areas
Attention Increases Spike Count Correlations between Visual Cortical Areas
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.0610-16.2016
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发表时间：
2016-07-13
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Cohen, Marlene R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ruff, Douglas A.;Cohen, Marlene R.
视觉注意，提高了感知关注的位置或对象，长期以来一直被认为会影响视觉皮层中神经元群体的反应的许多方面。关于这些感知改善的神经机制，有两个不相互排斥的假设。第一个假说认为，注意力会改善特定皮层区域的神经元群体所编码的信息，这一假说有相当多的生理学支持。第二个假设是，注意力通过选择性地传达相关的视觉信息来改善感知。这一想法主要是通过测量非常短时间尺度上的神经元之间的相互作用来测试的，在数学上，这种相互作用几乎与较长时间尺度上的神经元相互作用无关。我们测试的假设，即注意力改变视觉信息之间的皮层区域在较长的时间尺度上进行通信的方式，同时记录在初级视觉皮层（V1）和中颞区（MT）的恒河猴神经元。我们使用了两种独立和互补的方法。我们的相关实验表明，注意力会增加这两个区域之间共享的试验间反应变异性。在我们的因果实验中，我们电微刺激V1，发现注意力增加了刺激对MT反应的影响。总之，我们的研究结果表明，注意力既影响视觉刺激在皮层区域内编码的方式，也影响视觉信息在行为相关时间尺度上在区域之间传递的程度。
Visual attention, which improves perception of attended locations or objects, has long been known to affect many aspects of the responses of neuronal populations in visual cortex. There are two nonmutually exclusive hypotheses concerning the neuronal mechanisms that underlie these perceptual improvements. The first hypothesis, that attention improves the information encoded by a population of neurons in a particular cortical area, has considerable physiological support. The second hypothesis is that attention improves perception by selectively communicating relevant visual information. This idea has been tested primarily by measuring interactions between neurons on very short timescales, which are mathematically nearly independent of neuronal interactions on longer timescales. We tested the hypothesis that attention changes the way visual information is communicated between cortical areas on longer timescales by recording simultaneously from neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) and the middle temporal area (MT) in rhesus monkeys. We used two independent and complementary approaches. Our correlative experiment showed that attention increases the trial-to-trial response variability that is shared between the two areas. In our causal experiment, we electrically microstimulated V1 and found that attention increased the effect of stimulation on MT responses. Together, our results suggest that attention affects both the way visual stimuli are encoded within a cortical area and the extent to which visual information is communicated between areas on behaviorally relevant timescales.