Prefrontal attentional saccades explore space rhythmically

Gaillard,; Hassen, Sameh Ben Hadj; Bello, Fabio Di; Bihan-Poudec, Yann; VanRullen, Rufin; Hamed, Suliann Ben

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14649-7

Cited by 61 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Behavioral performance on this specific attentional task is dependent of the correct allocation of attentional processes (Bello et al, 2020; Posner, 2016). As a result, the ultra-slow fluctuations in target processing and perception is expected to directly impact FEF attentional-related information(Astrand et al, 2016; Gaillard et al, 2020a) to the same extent.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prefrontal population attention related information, can be assessed by machine learning techniques applied to ongoing prefrontal population multiunit (MUA) neuronal ensemble activity(Astrand et al, 2016; De Sousa et al, 2021; Gaillard et al, 2020a). In the following, we show that prefrontal population attention-related information is modulated at an ultra-slow rhythm that correlates with the rhythmic variations in behavioral performance described above.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…every 9 to 15 minutes). Applying machine learning approaches to decode prefrontal attentional related information(Astrand et al, 2016, 2020; De Sousa et al, 2021; Gaillard et al, 2020a), we show that these fluctuations in behavioral performance coincide with phase-locked rhythmic fluctuations in how well the prefrontal cortex both accurately encodes the perception of incoming visual stimuli and spatial attention orientation information. In addition, we show that high behavioral performance task epochs coincide with the enhanced of multiple neurophysiological attentional markers: enhanced theta (4-6Hz) and beta (18-24Hz) LFP power, enhanced alpha (7-11Hz) LFP coherence, enhanced spike-field coherence in the theta (4-6Hz), alpha (7-11Hz) and gamma (35-50Hz) frequencies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

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Attentional brain rhythms during prolonged cognitive activity

Gaillard

Amengual

et al. 2021

Preprint

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As routine and lower demand cognitive tasks are taken over by automated assistive systems, human operators are increasingly required to sustain cognitive demand over long periods of time. This has been reported to have long term adverse effects on cardiovascular and mental health. However, it remains unclear whether prolonged cognitive activity results in a monotonic decrease in the efficiency of the recruited brain processes, or whether the brain is able to sustain functions over time spans of one hour and more. Here, we show that during working sessions of one hour or more, contrary to the prediction of a monotonic decline, behavioral performance in both humans and non-human primates consistently fluctuates between periods of optimal and suboptimal performance at a very slow rhythm of circa 5 cycles per hour. These fluctuations are observed in both high attentional (in non-human primates) and low attentional (in humans) demand conditions. They coincide with fluctuations in pupil diameter, indicating underlying changes in arousal and information-processing load. Accordingly, we show that these rhythmic behavioral fluctuations correlate, at the neurophysiological level, with fluctuations in the informational attention orientation and perception processing capacity of prefrontal neuronal populations. We further identify specific markers of these fluctuations in LFP power, LFP coherence and spike-field coherence, pointing towards long-range rhythmic modulatory inputs to the prefrontal cortex rather than a local prefrontal origin. These results shed light on the resilience of brain mechanisms to sustained effort and have direct implications on how to optimize high cognitive demand working and learning environments.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

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Attentional brain rhythms during prolonged cognitive activity

Gaillard

Amengual

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Fiebelkorn et al (2018) suggest the FEF might specifically be involved in (the attenuation of) exploration of space, while the parietal cortex modulates processing at the attended location. In line with this, Gaillard et al (2020) used a cued target-detection task in macaques and showed that the attentional spotlight explores space rhythmically, by decoding the location of the attentional spotlight from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Future research should thus disentangle the different contributions of the frontal and parietal cortex in rhythmic sampling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Phasic modulation of visual representations during sustained attention

Маршалл

Spaak

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Sustained attention has long been thought to benefit perception in a continuous fashion, but recent evidence suggests that it affects perception in a discrete, rhythmic way. Periodic fluctuations in behavioral performance over time, and modulations of behavioral performance by the phase of spontaneous oscillatory brain activity point to an attentional sampling rate in the theta or alpha frequency range. We investigated whether such discrete sampling by attention is reflected in periodic fluctuations in the decodability of visual stimulus orientation from magnetoencephalographic (MEG) brain signals. In this exploratory study, human subjects attended one of two grating stimuli while MEG was being recorded. We assessed the strength of the visual representation of the attended stimulus using a support vector machine (SVM) to decode the orientation of the grating (clockwise vs. counterclockwise) from the MEG signal. We tested whether decoder performance depended on the theta/alpha phase of local brain activity. While the phase of ongoing activity in visual cortex did not modulate decoding performance, theta/alpha phase of activity in the FEF and parietal cortex, contralateral to the attended stimulus did modulate decoding performance. These findings suggest that phasic modulations of visual stimulus representations in the brain are caused by frequency-specific top-down activity in the fronto-parietal attention network.

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“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted March 26, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.25.436919 doi: bioRxiv preprint decoding of the focus of the attentional spotlight. Importantly, the spotlight explored the visual space at a 7-12 Hz alpha rhythm ('attentional saccades') [71]. In another non-human primate study, signals from the V4 receptive field of respectively current and future fixations were coherent in the alpha band around the time of saccades [72].…”

Section: Evidence Linking Alpha Oscillations and Saccadesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pipelining mechanism supporting previewing during visual exploration and reading

Jensen

Pan

Frisson

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Humans have a remarkable ability to efficiently explore visual scenes and text by means of eye-movements. Humans typically make eye-movements (saccades) every ~250ms. Since the saccadic motor planning and execution takes 100ms this leaves only ~150ms to recognize the fixated object (or word), while simultaneously previewing candidates for the next saccade goal. We propose a pipelining mechanism that efficiently can coordinate visual exploration and reading. The mechanism is timed by alpha oscillations that coordinate the saccades, visual recognition and previewing in the cortical hierarchy. Consequently, the neuronal mechanism supporting visual processing and saccades must be studied in unison to uncover the brain mechanism supporting visual exploration and reading.

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Prefrontal attentional saccades explore space rhythmically

Cited by 61 publications

References 68 publications

Attentional brain rhythms during prolonged cognitive activity

Attentional brain rhythms during prolonged cognitive activity

Phasic modulation of visual representations during sustained attention

A pipelining mechanism supporting previewing during visual exploration and reading

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