Relevance of a neutral cue in a two-choice detection task in the rat

Hamamé, Carlos M.; Délano, Paul H.; Robles, Luis

doi:10.4067/s0716-97602006000200008

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In a recent study (Hamame et al, 2006) we showed that the presence of a NC, similar to the present one, produced response latency reductions in a two-choice detection task, which were larger than in the present work. However, in that study, rats were trained in the presence of the NC, which was removed after the rats performed at a certain behavioral criterion for five consecutive days.…”

Section: Latency Of Responsesupporting

confidence: 60%

“…In contrast, in a previous work, we found clear behavioral differences between the no-cue and neutral cue (NC) conditions (Hamame, et al, 2006). In that work, we studied the relevance of a NC in a twochoice visual detection task by comparing the behavioral performance of rats during five days in which a NC was presented and five subsequent days in which the NC was removed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…The main problem with that experimental design is that when an animal has learned to respond in a certain stimuli arrangement, any variation on that original training context may produce a change in the animal's response. Consequently, a generalization decrement (see Ghirlanda and Enquist, 2003, for a review on the subject) could partly explain the differences in latency and other behavioral indices reported by Hamame et al (2006). In the present work, in which we also found latency differences between the trials with and without NC, although lower than in the previous study, animals were trained from the beginning in a task in which the NC was presented in only 70% of the trials, thus, a generalization decrement effect can be discarded.…”

Section: Latency Of Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present study, we use a two-choice visual detection task similar to the one used previously (Hamame, et al, 2006). However, in this case only 70% of the trials started with the presentation of a NC before the onset of the target lights and 30 % of the trials had no NC.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A neutral cue facilitates detection of a visual target by modulating attention

2008

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Twelve rats were trained to perform a two-choice visual detection task in which a right or left light was presented and the animals were required to press the lever located under the illuminated light for a food reward. In seventy percent of the trials the target light was preceded by presentation of a neutral cue (a central light). Relevance of the neutral cue for detection of the target was analyzed by comparing behavioral indices of attention in its presence and absence. Accuracy was significantly higher in presence than in absence of the neutral cue, while mean response latencies were lower in presence than in absence of the neutral cue. These results indicate that the animals allocated attentional resources on the target detection during a high expectancy period after the onset of the neutral cue. This could facilitate target detection and improve the performance in the presence of the neutral cue.

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Section: Latency Of Responsesupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Latency Of Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A neutral cue facilitates detection of a visual target by modulating attention

2008

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“…6 B), as it did in the visual task (Fig. 5) (Hamame et al, 2006). However, in the two animals implanted with the round-window electrode and tested in the auditory task, there were no changes in the amplitude of cochlear potentials during the presentation of the neutral cue in contrast to the visual task (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

Selective Attention to Visual Stimuli Reduces Cochlear Sensitivity in Chinchillas

Délano¹,

Elgueda²,

Hamamé³

et al. 2007

J. Neurosci.

147

141

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It is generally accepted that during periods of attention to specific stimuli there are changes in the neural activity of central auditory structures; however, it is controversial whether attention can modulate auditory responses at the cochlear level. Several studies performed in animals as well as in humans have attempted to find a modulation of cochlear responses during visual attention with contradictory results. Here, we have appraised cochlear sensitivity in behaving chinchillas by measuring, with a chronically implanted roundwindow electrode, sound-evoked auditory-nerve compound action potentials and cochlear microphonics, a measure of outer hair cell function, during selective attention to visual stimuli. Chinchillas were trained in a visual discrimination or in an auditory frequency discrimination two-choice task. We found a significant decrease of cochlear sensitivity during the period of attention to visual stimuli in the animals performing the visual discrimination task, but not in those performing the auditory task, demonstrating that this physiological effect is related to selective attention to visual stimuli rather than to an increment in arousal level. Furthermore, the magnitude of the cochlear-sensitivity reductions increased in sessions performed with shorter target-light durations (4 -0.5 s), suggesting that this effect is stronger for higher attentional demands of the task. These results demonstrate that afferent auditory activity is modulated by selective attention as early as at sensory transduction, possibly through activation of olivocochlear efferent fibers.

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The olivocochlear reflex strength in awake chinchillas is relevant for behavioural performance during visual selective attention with auditory distractors

Bowen

Terreros

Moreno‐Gómez

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The auditory efferent system comprises descending projections from the cerebral cortex to subcortical nuclei, reaching the cochlear receptor through olivocochlear fibres. One of the functions attributed to this corticofugal system is to suppress irrelevant sounds during selective attention to visual stimuli. Medial olivocochlear neurons can also be activated by sounds through a brainstem reflex circuit. Whether the individual variability of this reflex is related to the cognitive capacity to suppress auditory stimuli is still controversial. Here we propose that the individual strength per animal of the olivocochlear reflex is correlated with the ability to suppress auditory distractors during visual attention in awake chinchillas. The olivocochlear reflex was elicited with a contralateral broad-band noise at ~ 60 dB and ipsilateral distortion product otoacoustic emissions were obtained at different frequencies (1–8 kHz). Fourteen chinchillas were evaluated in a behavioural protocol of visual attention with broad-band noise and chinchilla vocalizations as auditory distractors. Results show that the behavioural performance was affected by both distractors and that the magnitudes of the olivocochlear reflex evaluated at multiple frequencies were relevant for behavioural performance during visual discrimination with auditory distractors. These results stress the ecological relevance of the olivocochlear system for suppressing natural distractors.

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Relevance of a neutral cue in a two-choice detection task in the rat

Cited by 7 publications

References 26 publications

A neutral cue facilitates detection of a visual target by modulating attention

A neutral cue facilitates detection of a visual target by modulating attention

Selective Attention to Visual Stimuli Reduces Cochlear Sensitivity in Chinchillas

The olivocochlear reflex strength in awake chinchillas is relevant for behavioural performance during visual selective attention with auditory distractors

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