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以牺牲在另一个位置处理不相关信息为代价，加强对相关信息的处理。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，注意的神经元关联存在于大脑皮层中。尽管鸟类的大脑末端布局完全不同，但进化趋同，缺乏大脑皮层，鸟类也表现出出色的空间认知能力。然而，鸟类是否具有复杂的空间注意力，以及它在大脑中是如何处理的，目前尚不清楚。鸦科鸣禽（松鸦、乌鸦和渡鸦）具有扩展的端脑回路，表现出出色的行为灵活性和认知能力。因此，为了解决鸟类的空间注意过程，我们研究了腐食乌鸦（Corvus corone）。乌鸦被训练进行视觉探测任务，其中视觉线索引导乌鸦的注意力朝向或远离后续目标刺激的位置。通过比较有和无空间注意的表现和反应时间，探讨空间注意的行为特征。在行为表现过程中，我们记录了乌鸦末端脑区nidopallium caudolaterale （NCL）中神经元群的活动，该区域已知对鸟类的认知控制功能很重要。这将使我们能够澄清鸟类空间注意处理的神经元相关性。这项研究将有助于破译脊椎动物选择性注意的一般机制，而不考虑其最终大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.