Human Occipital and Parietal GABA Selectively Influence Visual Perception of Orientation and Size.
Human Occipital and Parietal GABA Selectively Influence Visual Perception of Orientation and Size.
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.3945-16.2017
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发表时间：
2017-09-13
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Rees G
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文献类型：
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作者：
Song C;Sandberg K;Andersen LM;Blicher JU;Rees G
GABA是人脑中主要的抑制性神经递质。GABA的水平在个体之间差异很大，这种差异与视觉感知的个体间差异有关。然而，目前尚不清楚GABA水平和视觉感知之间的关联是否反映了视觉抑制的普遍影响，或者不同皮层区域的GABA水平是否选择性地影响不同视觉特征的感知。为了解决这一问题，我们研究了顶叶和枕叶皮质的GABA水平与个体间大小，方向和亮度感知差异的关系。我们使用视觉情境错觉作为知觉分析，因为错觉将知觉内容与刺激内容分离，并且错觉的大小反映了视觉抑制的效果。在个体中，我们观察到GABA水平和上下文错觉的大小之间的选择性相关性。具体而言，顶叶GABA水平与大小错觉幅度相关，但不与方向或亮度错觉幅度;相反，枕叶GABA水平与方向错觉幅度相关，但不与大小或亮度错觉幅度。我们的研究结果揭示了GABA水平对人类视觉感知的区域和特征依赖性影响。顶叶和枕叶皮质分别包含大小和方向偏好的地形图，其中对刺激大小和刺激方向的神经反应由区域内横向连接调制。我们建议，这些横向连接可能是GABA对视觉感知的选择性影响的基础。重要性声明GABA是人类视觉系统中的主要抑制性神经递质，个体差异很大。GABA水平的个体间差异与视觉感知的许多方面的个体间差异有关。然而，GABA的广泛影响提出了这样一个问题：GABA的个体间变异是否反映了视觉抑制的整体变异，并对视觉感知产生了普遍影响，或者不同皮层区域的GABA水平是否对不同视觉特征的感知产生了选择性影响。在这里，我们报告的区域和功能依赖的影响，GABA水平对人类的视觉感知。我们的研究结果表明，GABA水平的皮层区域选择性地影响知觉的视觉功能，地形图在这个地区通过区域内的横向连接。
GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in human brain. The level of GABA varies substantially across individuals, and this variability is associated with interindividual differences in visual perception. However, it remains unclear whether the association between GABA level and visual perception reflects a general influence of visual inhibition or whether the GABA levels of different cortical regions selectively influence perception of different visual features. To address this, we studied how the GABA levels of parietal and occipital cortices related to interindividual differences in size, orientation, and brightness perception. We used visual contextual illusion as a perceptual assay since the illusion dissociates perceptual content from stimulus content and the magnitude of the illusion reflects the effect of visual inhibition. Across individuals, we observed selective correlations between the level of GABA and the magnitude of contextual illusion. Specifically, parietal GABA level correlated with size illusion magnitude but not with orientation or brightness illusion magnitude; in contrast, occipital GABA level correlated with orientation illusion magnitude but not with size or brightness illusion magnitude. Our findings reveal a region- and feature-dependent influence of GABA level on human visual perception. Parietal and occipital cortices contain, respectively, topographic maps of size and orientation preference in which neural responses to stimulus sizes and stimulus orientations are modulated by intraregional lateral connections. We propose that these lateral connections may underlie the selective influence of GABA on visual perception. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in human visual system, varies substantially across individuals. This interindividual variability in GABA level is linked to interindividual differences in many aspects of visual perception. However, the widespread influence of GABA raises the question of whether interindividual variability in GABA reflects an overall variability in visual inhibition and has a general influence on visual perception or whether the GABA levels of different cortical regions have selective influence on perception of different visual features. Here we report a region- and feature-dependent influence of GABA level on human visual perception. Our findings suggest that GABA level of a cortical region selectively influences perception of visual features that are topographically mapped in this region through intraregional lateral connections.