Representation of attentional priority for visual features in the human brain

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PROJECT SUMMARY The environment contains far more information than the brain can process at once. Visual attention helps us cope with such information overload by selectively processing relevant information. In many situations, humans need to select arbitrary features in a scene. Theories of attention have proposed that such selection is mediated by a priority representation that encodes the relative importance of each visual stimulus in the scene. However, much remains unknown regarding how the brain computes and maintains attentional priority for features. Our long-term goal is to understand how the brain selects different types of information via population neural activity to serve goal-directed behavior. In this project, we will examine the neural basis of two basic properties of feature attention: its resolution and capacity. We hypothesize that distinct areas in the dorsal frontoparietal network encode priority information with different resolution and capacity limit, supported by distinct neural population activity profiles. We will test this overall hypothesis by pursuing three specific aims. First, we will establish functional specializations in frontoparietal areas in representing feature priority with different levels of resolution. Second, we will examine the nature of priority signals that gives rise to the capacity limit in attending to multiple stimuli. Third, we will quantify the dimensionality of priority signals and examine how neural dimensionality determines the resolution and capacity of the priority representation. The proposed research is expected to significantly advance our understanding of how the brain selects visual features, in terms of the neural machinery and computational principles that enable such selection. A deeper understanding of how the brain selects visual features will provide important constraints for theories and models of attention and can potentially transform our understanding of visual information processing and cognitive control. The research project is innovative both in terms of conceptual and methodological advances. Conceptually, the project will test novel hypotheses regarding the functional dissociations in frontoparietal cortex and the underlying computational principles of neural coding. Methodologically, the project employs a multi- modal approach including behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuroperturbation techniques, complemented by advanced data analytical and computational modeling methods, to gain fundamental insights into the brain mechanisms of visual attention.