Asymmetry of Anticipatory Activity in Visual Cortex Predicts the Locus of Attention and Perception

Sylvester, Chad M.; Shulman, Gordon L.; Jack, Anthony I.; Corbetta, Maurizio

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3759-07.2007

Cited by 104 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…The orientation discrimination task required subjects to direct spatial attention to the left lower quadrant. Important processes for acquisition of the task include filtering of distracters at multiple unattended locations (36), as well as coding of the locus of attention by gradients of activity across spatial maps (37,38). Hence, a high degree of coherence between stimulus-specific regions in visual cortex, before any experience, may facilitate the subsequent parsing of relevant from irrelevant information, and facilitate the reweighting of functional connections among different quadrants in visual cortex.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variability in functional connectivity predicts performance of a perceptual task

Baldassarre

Lewis

Committeri

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

245

177

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People differ in their ability to perform novel perceptual tasks, both during initial exposure and in the rate of improvement with practice. It is also known that regions of the brain recruited by particular tasks change their activity during learning. Here we investigate neural signals predictive of individual variability in performance. We used resting-state functional MRI to assess functional connectivity before training on a novel visual discrimination task. Subsequent task performance was related to functional connectivity measures within portions of visual cortex and between visual cortex and prefrontal association areas. Our results indicate that individual differences in performing novel perceptual tasks can be related to individual differences in spontaneous cortical activity

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variability in functional connectivity predicts performance of a perceptual task

Baldassarre

Lewis

Committeri

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

245

177

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“…Here, we show that modulation in the visual cortex is topographically and shape specific and mainly consists of the filtering of sensory-evoked responses to novel (untrained) shapes in the attended quadrant, which presumably leads to a more specific response to the trained shape. The presence of training-related modulation in the visual cortex homologous to the representation of the trained quadrant is not surprising in light of several recent fMRI studies (27,28). These studies suggest that modulations in the visual cortex are not restricted to attended locations, as previously believed, but extend to unattended locations, especially those in the opposite hemisphere homologous to the attended ones.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…These studies suggest that modulations in the visual cortex are not restricted to attended locations, as previously believed, but extend to unattended locations, especially those in the opposite hemisphere homologous to the attended ones. This pattern reflects a specific computational mechanism for coding the locus of attention in a cortical map based on activity difference between attended and unattended locations (27,29).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…With time, subjects reported seeing the target shape effortlessly (as if it ''pops-out'' from the background). Prior neuroimaging studies have established that this task involves an interaction of the visual cortex with fronto-parietal regions, with development of expertise being associated with sharpening of orientation tuning curves and fMRI response enhancement in the visual cortex, and less pronounced activation of higher-order control areas (26)(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Learning sculpts the spontaneous activity of the resting human brain

Lewis

Baldassarre

Committeri

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

725

671

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The brain is not a passive sensory-motor analyzer driven by environmental stimuli, but actively maintains ongoing representations that may be involved in the coding of expected sensory stimuli, prospective motor responses, and prior experience. Spontaneous cortical activity has been proposed to play an important part in maintaining these ongoing, internal representations, although its functional role is not well understood. One spontaneous signal being intensely investigated in the human brain is the interregional temporal correlation of the blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal recorded at rest by functional MRI (functional connectivity-by-MRI, fcMRI, or BOLD connectivity). This signal is intrinsic and coherent within a number of distributed networks whose topography closely resembles that of functional networks recruited during tasks. While it is apparent that fcMRI networks reflect anatomical connectivity, it is less clear whether they have any dynamic functional importance. Here, we demonstrate that visual perceptual learning, an example of adult neural plasticity, modifies the resting covariance structure of spontaneous activity between networks engaged by the task. Specifically, after intense training on a shape-identification task constrained to one visual quadrant, resting BOLD functional connectivity and directed mutual interaction between trained visual cortex and frontalparietal areas involved in the control of spatial attention were significantly modified. Critically, these changes correlated with the degree of perceptual learning. We conclude that functional connectivity serves a dynamic role in brain function, supporting the consolidation of previous experience.fMRI ͉ functional connectivity ͉ perceptual learning ͉ resting state S pontaneous neural activity utilizes the majority of the brain's energy budget, but its function remains mysterious (1-8). At the level of single neurons, embedded in the local circuitry of a cortical area, spontaneous activity has been shown to emulate the pattern of activity evoked by the neuron's optimal stimulus, suggesting that at least at this level of description, spontaneous activity is likely to reflect the history of coactivation within local networks (9). At the level of distributed cortical systems, spontaneous activity measured by blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) exhibits covariance structures (or functional connectivity) at ultraslow frequencies (Ͻ0.1 Hz) that are stable across a wide range of behavioral states (anesthesia, task performance, resting wakefulness, and sleep) (10, 11). The topography of BOLD functional connectivity is compatible with both the underlying structural connectivity of the cortex and the functional anatomy of systems engaged by a broad range of tasks (12-16).Studies have suggested that BOLD functional connectivity is largely a physiological marker of anatomical connections or a correlate of intrinsic vascular dynamics without functional or behavioral significance (17). This hypothesis is consistent with t...

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“…Such a modulation can theoretically take multiple forms. It has been suggested that it involves the variation of baseline activity in the absence of visual stimulation, the enhancement of visual responses to targets at attended locations, and possibly the suppression of unwanted information at the unattended location (e.g., Kastner and Ungerleider 2000;Luck et al 1997;Sylvester et al 2007Sylvester et al , 2009). However, the hypothesis that orienting visuospatial attention improves single-target detection by facilitating visual processing appears questionable (Fecteau and Munoz 2005;Kahn et al 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention to baseline: does orienting visuospatial attention really facilitate target detection?

Albares

Criaud

Wardak

et al. 2011

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Albares M, Criaud M, Wardak C, Nguyen SC, Ben Hamed S, Boulinguez P. Attention to baseline: does orienting visuospatial attention really facilitate target detection? J Neurophysiol 106: 809-816, 2011. First published May 25, 2011 doi:10.1152/jn.00206.2011.-Standard protocols testing the orientation of visuospatial attention usually present spatial cues before targets and compare valid-cue trials with invalid-cue trials. The valid/invalid contrast results in a relative behavioral or physiological difference that is generally interpreted as a benefit of attention orientation. However, growing evidence suggests that inhibitory control of response is closely involved in this kind of protocol that requires the subjects to withhold automatic responses to cues, probably biasing behavioral and physiological baselines. Here, we used two experiments to disentangle the inhibitory control of automatic responses from orienting of visuospatial attention in a saccadic reaction time task in humans, a variant of the classical cue-target detection task and a sustained visuospatial attentional task. Surprisingly, when referring to a simple target detection task in which there is no need to refrain from reacting to avoid inappropriate responses, we found no consistent evidence of facilitation of target detection at the attended location. Instead, we observed a cost at the unattended location. Departing from the classical view, our results suggest that reaction time measures of visuospatial attention probably relie on the attenuation of elementary processes involved in visual target detection and saccade initiation away from the attended location rather than on facilitation at the attended location. This highlights the need to use proper control conditions in experimental designs to disambiguate relative from absolute cueing benefits on target detection reaction times, both in psychophysical and neurophysiological studies. saccades; electrooculography; inhibition; human ONE ATTRIBUTE of the selective attention system is its capacity to select a part of the environment over which an impending signal is to occur. Orienting visuospatial attention is known to facilitate information processing of stimuli at attended locations. A consistent behavioral outcome of this effect is a reduction of response latency [reaction time (RT)] to salient stimuli presented at the attended location

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Asymmetry of Anticipatory Activity in Visual Cortex Predicts the Locus of Attention and Perception

Cited by 104 publications

References 74 publications

Individual variability in functional connectivity predicts performance of a perceptual task

Individual variability in functional connectivity predicts performance of a perceptual task

Learning sculpts the spontaneous activity of the resting human brain

Attention to baseline: does orienting visuospatial attention really facilitate target detection?

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