The Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Guidance of Visual Attention

视觉注意引导下的神经机制

• 批准号: 7898808
• 负责人: James Bisley
• 金额: $ 37.65万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-30 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7898808
• 关键词: Address; Affect; Animals; Area; Attention; Attention Deficit Disorder; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Paradigm; Biological Models; Blindness; Brain; Cells; Cognitive; Decision Making; Development; Drops; Eye; Eye Movements; Foundations; Goals; Knowledge; Learning; Lesion; Life; Location; Maps; Mechanics; Memory; Methods; Modeling; Monitor; Monkeys; Neurons; Parietal; Parietal Lobe; Patients; Performance; Peripheral; Play; Reading; Research; Resources; Rewards; Role; Running; Saccades; Spatial Distribution; Stimulus; Testing; Time; V4 neuron; Visual; Visual Cortex; Visual Perception; Visual attention; Work; area V4; attentional modulation; base; combat; covert attention; extrastriate visual cortex; gaze; grasp; insight; lateral intraparietal area; neuromechanism; neurophysiology; novel; novel strategies; public health relevance; receptive field; research study; response; theories; visual map; visual stimulus

Description (provided by applicant): We study visual attention because of its importance in visual perception. Behavioral paradigms, such as change blindness, have shown us that while we think we perceive the whole visual world, we only take away information about regions or objects that we have attended. Because visual attention is a foundation of visual perception, it underlies most of our interactions with the perceived world - both our physical interactions and more intellectual interactions, such as learning and memory. Thus, increasing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the guidance of attention is critical in allowing us to gain a deeper insight into how the brain makes decisions based on both external and cognitive inputs and, in the long run, insight into the mechanisms underlying visual perception itself. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) acts as a priority map - a map of the visual world that is used to guide the allocation of attention. The theory is that attention is allocated to the location on the map with the greatest activity. We have hypothesized that this map is used to guide both peripheral (covert) attention and eye movements (overt attention). In aim 1, we will test this hypothesis by comparing the activity in LIP and visual area V4 under conditions in which covert attention is spread, focused or biased to a particular location. We predict that activity in V4 will be modulated in a way that is directly related to the spatial distribution of activity in LIP - a peak of activity in LIP will produce strong attentional modulation in V4. We will further test this by stimulating LIP and showing predictable modulation in V4 activity. In aim 2, we will test a prediction made by our model of the system, namely that once an object has been looked at, it is suppressed on the map so that the focus of gaze (ie. overt attention) doesn't just bounce between the two highest points on the map. We will test this by examining the activity in LIP to an identical stimulus under conditions in which it has or has not been looked at previously. We expect that the response will be significantly lower in the case in which the stimulus has already been seen. We will then test whether this reduction in activity is important to the behavior by stimulating LIP during the task. We expect that this will result in more eye movements being made to the visual stimulus at the stimulated location than to the same stimulus in trials in which stimulation does not occur. These experiments are aimed at understanding the role that LIP plays in the allocation of attention and the results may be used to fine-tune our model of how attention is allocated. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE The results from this study help us understand the way the brain decides what is worth paying attention to. Given the importance of visual attention in everyday life and the deficits seen in patients with parietal lesions or attention deficit disorders, a greater understanding of this mechanism may aid in the development of pharmacological or behavioral methods to combat these problems.

描述（由申请人提供）：我们研究视觉注意力，因为它在视觉感知中的重要性。行为范式（例如变化盲视）向我们表明，虽然我们认为自己感知了整个视觉世界，但我们只带走了有关我们所关注的区域或物体的信息。因为视觉注意力是视觉感知的基础，所以它是我们与感知世界的大部分互动的基础——包括我们的身体互动和更多的智力互动，例如学习和记忆。因此，增加我们对注意力引导机制的理解至关重要，可以让我们更深入地了解大脑如何根据外部和认知输入做出决策，并从长远来看，深入了解视觉感知本身的机制。在这项研究中，我们测试了这样一个假设：侧顶叶区域（LIP）充当优先级地图——用于指导注意力分配的视觉世界地图。该理论认为，注意力会分配到地图上活动最活跃的位置。我们假设该地图用于引导外围（隐蔽）注意力和眼球运动（显性注意力）。在目标 1 中，我们将通过比较隐性注意力分散、集中或偏向特定位置的条件下 LIP 和视觉区域 V4 的活动来检验这一假设。我们预测 V4 中的活动将以与 LIP 中活动的空间分布直接相关的方式进行调节 - LIP 中的活动峰值将在 V4 中产生强烈的注意力调节。我们将通过刺激 LIP 并显示 V4 活动的可预测调节来进一步测试这一点。在目标 2 中，我们将测试我们的系统模型所做的预测，即一旦观察到一个物体，它就会在地图上被抑制，这样凝视的焦点（即明显的注意力）就不会只是在地图上的两个最高点之间反弹。我们将通过检查 LIP 在先前已观察或未观察过的条件下对相同刺激的活动来对此进行测试。我们预计，在刺激措施已经出台的情况下，反应将显着降低。然后，我们将通过在任务期间刺激 LIP 来测试活动的减少对于行为是否重要。我们预计，这将导致在刺激位置处的视觉刺激比在不发生刺激的试验中对相同刺激进行更多的眼球运动。这些实验旨在了解 LIP 在注意力分配中发挥的作用，结果可用于微调我们的注意力分配模型。公共卫生相关性 这项研究的结果帮助我们了解大脑决定什么值得关注的方式。鉴于视觉注意力在日常生活中的重要性以及顶叶病变或注意力缺陷障碍患者的缺陷，更好地了解这种机制可能有助于开发药理学或行为方法来解决这些问题。