Neuronal foundations of spatial attention in the crow brain

空间注意的特点是在一个特定的位置上处理相关的信息，而在另一个位置上处理无关的信息。空间注意过程的行为特征已经在人类和非人类灵长类动物中得到了深入的研究，有证据表明，与注意相关的神经元存在于大脑皮层中。尽管鸟类的端脑布局完全不同，而且是趋同进化的，缺乏大脑皮层，但它们也表现出出色的空间认知能力。然而，目前还不清楚鸟类是否拥有复杂的空间注意力，以及它如何在大脑中处理。鸦科鸣禽（松鸦、乌鸦和乌鸦）的端脑回路扩大，表现出出色的行为灵活性和认知能力。为了解决鸟类的空间注意过程，因此，我们研究腐肉乌鸦（乌鸦Corvus corone）。乌鸦接受视觉检测任务的训练，其中视觉线索将乌鸦的注意力引向或远离随后的目标刺激的位置。通过比较有和没有注意的性能和反应时，空间注意的行为特征进行了探索。在行为表现期间，我们记录了乌鸦的端脑区域“nidopallium caudolaterale（NCL）”中的神经元群体的活动，该区域已知对于鸟类的认知控制功能是重要的。这将使我们能够澄清鸟类空间注意处理的神经元相关性。这项研究将有助于解释脊椎动物选择性注意的一般机制，而不管它们端脑的精确解剖结构和进化。

Spatial attention is characterized by enhanced processing of relevant information at a specific location at the expense of processing irrelevant information at another location. The behavioral signatures of spatial attention processes have been explored intensively in humans and nonhuman primates, and evidence suggests that the neuronal correlates of attention reside in the cerebral cortex. Despite a radically different and convergently-evolved endbrain layout lacking a cerebral cortex, birds also show excellent spatial cognition. However, it is unknown whether birds possess sophisticated spatial attention, and how it might be processed in the brain. Corvid songbirds (jays, crows, and ravens) with their expanded telencephalic circuitries exhibit excellent behavioral flexibility and cognitive abilities. To address spatial attention processes in birds, we therefore study carrion crows (Corvus corone). Crows are trained on visual detection tasks in which visual cues direct the crows’ attention towards or away from the location of subsequent target stimuli. By comparing performance and reaction times with and without attention, the behavioral signatures of spatial attention are explored. During behavioral performance, we record the activity of populations of neurons in the crows’ endbrain region ‘nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL)’, an area known to be important for cognitive control functions in birds. This will allow us to clarify the neuronal correlates of spatial attentional processing in birds. This research will help to decipher the general mechanisms of selective attention in vertebrates, irrespective of the precise anatomical structuring and evolution of their endbrains.